Feel So Numb REDUX
by gypsywoman1
Summary: Dean Winchester is back in the game only to find the world teetering over the brink. Reuniting with Sam, the brothers find two unexpected allies from their past. But with new enemies lurking around every corner and even comrades not all they appear to be the dysfunctional group of misftis may destroy what they have fought their entire lives to save. /Set Season 4/
1. The Beginning Of The End

**A/N:**** Moved from Wynter's profile to here so it would be easier to find. This is the rewrite of the original Feel So Numb. Complete overhaul with some of the same content. Please enjoy! Written by gypsywoman1 and wynterfae.  
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_**Warning**__:__ FULL story Rated M for language, sex and violence._

**Sioux Falls, South Dakota**

**June 18, 2008**

The sensation never starts out the same, not entirely, and that's the trick to it. There are the stories about how headaches always precede them, there's a blinding white shock that strikes square in the eyes and out the back of the skull before it sucks the mind down into oblivion. Paralysis takes over, kitten weak before it subsides and then there are the questions. What do the cryptic visuals mean in their abstract frenzy? How could it be stopped? It could feel like seconds, when in fact it was minutes, hours, maybe a day or more. That was the case for Von MacKinnon, born more special than most, a psychic, a seer, a witch, a freak, a monster, she had been named all of these and more. But right now she was burdened with a desperate fear that she was unable to completely understand.

An anxiety had spread through all her limbs several hours ago, inescapable and she paced up and down the hall from the backdoor to the basement door of Bobby Singer's house. In fact the anxiety really hit home shortly after she arrived, she knew well enough that it was caused by the energy left behind by Bobby and whoever else had been in the house with him. Von continued her methodical march, piecing the clues together then scrapping the whole thing to start over. She had been having dreams, visions of a recurring nature concerning hunters and demons. It was an old song and dance theme true enough but Von's concern lay in the fact she swore one of them was Bobby, she discerned this only through his voice as the faces in the three man group were veiled from her being too blurred, stretched and distorted to make out any features. With the best of intentions Von had planned on arriving weeks ago, unfortunately things so often never go to plan and she was held up by her own responsibilities as a hunter.

Now she arrived to an empty house and Bobby was not answering his phone, Von tried eight times and always straight to voicemail. She left five messages with each more aggitated than the last. Normally Von would tell herself that Bobby was on a hunt, not to panic because he would be back sooner or later with another story to tell and more wisdom to pass on in his own surly way. "This time is different," she muttered to the emptiness of the hall and paused in concentration when a tendril of shrill cold shot up her spine blossoming into the back of her skull freezing her eyes wide and sightless.

Screaming broke through first that of a man and then she found her own voice overtaking it as she came back to the hallway with her eyes now on the ceiling and the headache from the vision fighting with the blow to the back of the head she had received when she fell to the floor. Hands carefully going to her chest she dared not to look, but her shirt was intact, no tattered cloth, no sticky warmth and no reek of blood. No hellhound hungering over her warm corpse. Sitting up she cleared the tears from her eyes with her sleeves and held in the small sob that threatened to escape, releasing it with a quiet, "fuck," more tears burned and blinded Von, her heart aching. That was it. The climax to the horrible dreams that she had meant to discuss with Bobby was over now, she had no time to stop it. Von had failed.

As she sat there in growing frustration at the tears that refused to stop falling she reached in her pocket for her phone, a bitter curse breaking from her lips at the screen that read 'No Signal'. Dragging herself to her feet Von headed into the kitchen to use one of the phones Bobby had lined up on the wall. The landline had no more luck than her cell had at getting ahold of the elder hunter. Voicemail and Von left no message. Pulling out a chair from the table Von quietly sat down, there was another way to find where Bobby Singer was but Von was too numb to think. She knew the rooms in the house were silent but all she could hear was screaming. That horrible screaming and then nothing.

888

New Harmony, Illinois

Sam cradled his brother for far too long, not wanting to let go and only did when Bobby managed to find him after him not picking up his cell phone. The elder hunter couldn't stand the sight of Dean, the boy he had practically fathered on the side, torn and bloody with that far off look in his green orbs. Seeing Sam quiet and unmoving, staring into oblivion was just as horrible. Not saying a word he took hold of Dean's legs knowing that Sam would follow through to carry the deceased hunter outside and to the car they had parked a ways. Loading Dean into the backseat they got in the car and drove. There had to be a place they could go to bury him. Even though Sam was in no state to do so with it being so fresh, they had to stop somewhere where no one really occupied, patch up the wounds, clean him up and make a pinewood box to go into the ground.

Once they found the patch of land out in the trees in Pontiac they got to work. Sam was almost mechanical but he was different, somber...When the time came to cover up the loaded makeshift coffin there were words that could have been said and yet none left either of the hunters lips. Just guilt riding on the atmosphere changing that land into a foreboding place than another tranquil section of Mother Nature. The drive was a long one, ten and a half hours and when they finally reached the Singer household they were tired, beaten and broken. Stepping through that door without Dean weighed on both and Sam stopped just over the threshold as Bobby continued within. Very little thought went into his next move as he turned, saddled his tall frame into the Impala and took off, somewhere...anywhere...just not with Bobby, not in that house where Dean should be.

888

Von lifted her head from the dark reverie that she fallen into at the sound of a car pulling up the drive, she strained to hear any sounds that followed, the labored shuffling of two sets of feet sounded on the wooden steps. She stiffened feeling the emotions of overwhelming defeat and sadness, there was no will left to fight, only a bleak darkness that encompassed their hearts. As she stood she heard the door open and one set of boots step over the threshold, without waiting Von hurried to the door to meet Bobby and to see a black 1972 Chevy Impala disappear down the gravel road. She knew that car, she had seen it many times in her youth, it was John Winchesters Impala but Von knew that John Winchester was dead. As for his sons, she had heard rumors here and there, but it wasn't a subject Bobby and Von ever discussed on her brief visits to his home. There was always bigger fish to fry and Von cared little for the gossip of hunters unless it suited her needs.

The elder hunter smelled of blood, dirt and death, fresh death. When Von's soulful green orbs landed on Bobby the world crumbled a little more around them as she read the expression on his face. Voiceless, never had she seen the man that was so much like a father to her so broken, the weathered lines on his face were deepened with grief and his eyes so often filled with wit and determination were glassed over from unshed tears. Tears she perceived he could not bring himself to release in front of the other person he was with, he was waiting to get home to drown them out with a strong two-six of whiskey. Taking his hand in hers she wished she could try for a familiar smile but nothing would warm the concern that laced her face, she could not rise above the emotions that emerged from Bobby and flowed against her. Von wrapped her arms around her mentor, squeezing when the old man returned the gesture. She felt the first sob then, a quick rise of his chest before he could stop it, then he pulled himself together for a moment and they eased away from one another before Von closed the door and they found themselves in the study.

"Bobby, what is it?" Von asked gently searching his face and finding nothing but exhaustion there and all the horrible emotions she could feel as if they were her own. Someone had died, she knew that she could feel it in her bones but this was more than spilling some for a fallen comrade, whoever was lost had been family.

Bobby scrubbed a weathered hand down his bearded face, bleary eyes wandering over to the empty bottle of Wild Turkey that had been left on his desk. He walked with the posture of a man who had nothing, who had been beaten down and left behind to watch the ashes of his existence blow away in the bitter wind. A bone weary sigh passed his lips while he pulled out one bottle of many from his liquor cabinet. He was back at his desk and pulling the foil off and then twisting the cap, filling his tumbler up and setting the bottle of alcohol down on his desk next to it.

The amber liquid sloshed around and settled. Bobby wrapped his hand around it, lifting it to his mouth and swallowing half the contents in one go. He hardly felt the burn as it went down, just the welcoming numb that came with it settling in his stomach.

A single tear tracked down his face and he washed it away with another swig of the whiskey he had pulled from the cabinet. He sucked in a breath and filled his glass again, lost in the depths of the amber elixir. Von was silent, allowing the alcohol to work in Bobby and numb the pain that was there for what little good it would do. She had a feeling that soon enough she was going to need a drink herself and maybe an aspirin or something a little stronger to take the edge off.

Bobby shook his head, beneath his ball cap his lips pursed together bitterly, "Didn't think I'd be seeing you anytime soon." His beard entangled another tear as he fell silent once more knocking back a fingerful of whiskey to clear his head. He knew Von was patiently sitting there with him, as unexpected a visit as it was it was a welcome one, he had been figuring she'd stop by sooner instead of at a time like this.

"I was held up, there's been a lot of demonic activity in my area," Von answered somberly, "I'm sorry."

"Just glad you're here, might need the extra set of hands." Bobby fingered the empty tumbler distractedly.

Von nodded, "I'll help any way that I can."

Bobby nodded, he knew Von would do anything for him. All he wanted right now though was for her to leave it be and she knew that was exactly what she needed to do.

888

The road was a long and rough experience without a passenger in the Impala. Sam wasn't even sure if he wanted to keep the vehicle with what it was doing and doing to him mentally. Every time he stopped for the night he swore that he could hear Dean's voice in the car telling him to rise and shine. Sleep evaded him and even if he could he had nightmares of Dean's death. He didn't know what day it was anymore and frankly didn't care. Each day the sun rose he got back into the driver's seat and headed onward. No set location, no nothing until the Impala itself protested against his actions and broke down in Chandler, Arizona. Sam took up his items and locked the car before setting foot to find a mechanic and wait out the fixing. Sure he could do it himself since Dean showed him, but it wasn't worth it when the memories flooded or the fact that Dean would say he was doing it wrong.

Signing a room under Andrew McCallister he shut the door, laying down the salt line and not finishing as well as leaving the half done devil's trap under the rug. Sam sat on the bed with his head in his hands, breathing in and out. "Sam."

He raised his head and stood, looking everywhere for that voice. "Dean?"

No one being there he tightened his fists and yelled, kicking the bed and knocking over the bedside lamp he didn't flinch when the blood trickled from his knuckles or when glass imbedded into his skin from tearing up anything he could. Minutes later he was on the floor drinking a bottle of whiskey he had bought earlier on the road. Leaning against the wall, head tilted back as tears burned his eyes. It was his fault. He should have tried harder to save his brother and he couldn't. He should have known that Ruby wasn't acting like Ruby in that house. Everything he did wasn't good enough, not being a Winchester. Thinking about tossing in pills from the duffel to go along with his sorrows he held them in his hand staring at them with mirth and desperation. Maybe he deserved to die instead of Dean...he should have stayed dead when he was and then this would never have happened. The thought of a crossroads didn't escape his mind but he had a feeling that they wouldn't take him. They didn't want him otherwise they would have kept him when Dean had bargained.

"Sam..."

"SHUT UP!"

The pill bottle flew across the room and hit someone's boot. His eyes lingered there and he searched the toe of the shoe, wondering if he was really seeing this or if it was hallucinations. He couldn't stand if he was going crazy. Trailing up the legs, torso and to the face it was not Dean. "Come here to torture me some more? Hasn't your boss done enough of that?" he growled in a slur as he took a deep swig.

888

**September 18, 2008  
Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
Singer Salvage Yard**

Four months had passed since the fateful night of May 2, 2008 where Dean Winchester had met his gruesome end at the hands of Lilith and her hellhound. Within those four months Von had come to know everything about the deal the elder brother had made to save his sibling and how they tried to save Dean to the very end. Bobby felt he had lost both boys, one to the fiery depths of Hell and the other had faded away into a rumor. He had called Sam on every phone he had and when the line didn't come back disconnected there was still no answer.

Von offered to use her skills to find Sam, Bobby shook his head, "He don't wanna be found." Meeting her eyes beneath his ball cap he added, "Just tell me if he's alive."

The red head nodded and left the study to gather some supplies from the trunk of her car. It crushed her to see the fire in Bobby's eyes so dimmed, with will alone he continued his days answering calls and reading through his books to help others, he was too important to the community, he could not stop. Von would assist him from time to time, demanding that he sleep while she took over the work load but neither one of them was ever able to catch much sleep. Nightmares ever dogged them. Bobby's desk was littered with bottles of all sorts, from store bought to Singer's rot-gut and sometimes Von would help him with the brew. "It's too sad to see you drinking by yourself," she said one night after dinner and filled one of the empty tumblers half full of Jim Beam. "Tomorrow I'm hiding all your liquor," Von continued nonchalantly with a sip of the dark amber liquid. But she never did and they often had nights where all they would do was sit in silence and drink too lost in their own dark thoughts to bother with much else.

It was early in the morning on September 18th that Von woke from her bed shaken and soaked in sweat. Kicking the sheets off she swung her legs over the side, elbows on her knees and hands fisted in her tangled hair with a tightness in her chest that made it hard to breathe. Taking in a long breath through her nose she exhaled through her mouth. This happened so often she hardly slept with much on aside from panties and a cotton cami. Rising from the bed Von gathered the damp sheets into her arms and softly padded down the hall to descend the stairs to the basement door, gripping the sheets in one arm she opened the door with her free hand and entered the basement turning to the left towards the washing machine.

Stuffing the items into the bin she grumbled when there was less than half a cup of detergent left in the box, looked like she was going to be making a run into town today. Closing the lid she cranked the dial to start the load and ascended the stairs on her way to the kitchen to grab a drink. A sudden chill trickled up her spine, stiffening Von honed in all her senses to every movement and every sound. Quietly she travelled towards the backdoor, there she had a knife stowed on a shelf and sliding it off into her firm grip she stepped warily towards the back door where a sound caught her attention. Whatever she felt was gone, however Von felt no relief because whatever it was it wasn't good. Knife still in hand she returned to the kitchen and opened the fridge door to scrounge for something other than alcohol, unable to find anything she settled for a beer.

The beverage never had a chance to pass her lips as it slipped from her hand and crashed to the hard linoleum floor shattering into glass shards while the liquid inside splashed in all directions. Von hit the floor with a thud the knife held limp in her hand as she lay there motionless. The commotion in the kitchen snapped Bobby into consciousness within minutes he was kneeling next to Von's unconscious form checking for a pulse after he gave her a shaking to rouse her. Her heart was beating but she was out cold. With no sign of external injuries Bobby lifted her up and carried her into the study laying her down on the couch, checking her pulse again to make sure she was still with him.

"Damn it, girl," he cussed. Bobby knew the signs, she had lived here long enough for him to know when she was having a vision, didn't mean he stopped worrying about her whenever she had one. She always came out of them, he wouldn't know what he'd do if she didn't.

888

Flashes of crimson light. Screams as thick as the blood at his feet. Covered in it, his and that of others. The ones he had carved into as more had done unto him. He licked the blood off his fingers, smiling down at the thing that was once a woman. She had made a deal to be beautiful, Helena of Troy beautiful and he had showed her what she really looked like on the inside. Vanity was a sin. Commotion erupted in the background, taking over the constant stream of noises of the damned. This was a different chorus among the cries of despair and agony. Screams of the endlessly dying. The burgundy light fractured and filtered into a thousand glass pieces. The pulsing strobe of darkness and light blinded him and a pained shout burst from his lungs.

Demons roared with rage and pain as they were cut down before something that he could not see. They rendered the man's flesh to hold him fast, fighting against the strong and hotter than white being that grabbed his shoulder, tearing him from his captors lifting him upward. A legion of demons and half-way human souls surged upwards to meet him, climbing with reckless speed like a swarm of locusts. There was a powerful beating of wings, a blazing light followed by the agonized howls of the evil horde burning and feathering away like ashes of charred paper. The stench was overpowering and he struggled to see through the glow of silver fire that threatened to burn his eyes from his skull. His sight could withstand it any longer and he jerked his away with bloodied tears streaking down his cheeks.

Then all was darkness. The first breath. Stiff and aching. Lungs that haven't held air for so long struggled to function. The smell of earth and dank rot filled his nostrils and he gagged. He knew that smell. He sucked in another labored breath and coughed. His instinct was to have light and he felt down his leg at the pocket of his jeans. What little hope that may have blossomed in his chest at the ignition of the small light died as panic overtook him. The flame of his Zippo flickering against the walls of the confined space. Coffin.

"HAL-"Coughing overtook every sense and process. His throat burned raw, the word ripping at his vocal cords. "Help!" he croaked out feebly, the noise barely high enough to make it worthy of a whisper.

_Please God don't let them have buried me upside down_.

The planks of the coffin were cheap by the feel of them. Handmade. He pushed with what little strength he had, trying to find any kind of hold on the frame to force his way through. Splinters bit into his cold stiff hands until he paused with alarm when dirt began to collapse on top of him and choke him, he pushed harder out of desperation a plank snapping under the strain and he found it was not only dirt he would have to dig through but layers of mud as well. Freezing he struggled with cries and curses, panic striking with every beat of his heart. He could not breathe and he was slowing down, the mud holding him in its frigid grip. Until a single hand felt the sharp sting of rain tickling on its surface.

Straining his legs he pushed with all his might, his head breaching the surface he gasped at the sweet moist air, grunting and choking it out again as he crawled from his grave. Rolling he lay on his back, staring up through the thick canopy of trees at the sky streaked in a grey haze of morning sky. His chest rose and fell rapidly, sucking down the fresh air and throwing it back out into the rain. Weary of the rain pounding into his aching limbs he stood, finding his legs weak and unsteady. What he saw next nearly made him fall again. His heart hammered erratically in his sore chest as he gazed around disbelievingly, fearfully. An ache spread from his stomach to his chest. With slow, pained but determined strides he started to walk. He didn't know much about trees or forests but there was something downright unsettling about how closely knit the trees were and how the limbs and brush wove together. The place creeped the hell out of him and he needed to get as far away from it as he possibly could.

888

**Miles City, Montana**

**115 miles from Ekalaka**

Sleep held no peace and the trial run proved that due to the body protesting every action. Alex snapped her eyes open and inhaled sharply from the dream that had been plaguing her for a few years. Though it seemed just like yesterday that she witnessed his death. Instinctively her hand reached for the sweat soaked dog tag around her neck, fingers running along the lettering of his name. Rolling onto her back she stared at the ceiling, knowing perfectly well the time. The annoying voice that usually occupied her thoughts was oddly silent but not for long, which meant it was also going over the dream as well. That was the thing. The very reason why Kayden died. Because of what she was and what was inside her genetics. She had died and come back. Some part of her fractured and not all of her soul was entirely whole, she figured that out once the taunting voice began. The voice she heard in Hell come from her own lips when it was nothing but her. Now it was an it. A parasite.

Checking the clock as she got up, she couldn't believe she had to give into the basic need of sleep after avoiding it for a week already. The job she was on was given to her by a hunter along the grapevine who knew she was close to the area. Bodies were piling up in Ekalaka, Montana and all of them were men. Not much to go on but the evidence was conclusive, it was a Succubus or succubi. Pulling on a pair of jeans and keeping the blue tank top on, the combat boots came next before she loaded up her car.

_Oh goody, another adventure. Please say this one will be more interesting. I'd much rather you spilled blood than saving it._

"Shut up you sadistic bitch." Alex climbed into her 1969 red Camaro with two white racing stripes down the middle and pulled off.


	2. Fighters Not Lovers

Soaked through and frozen he trudged on, pausing only to open his mouth to the sky and take what rain that fell into it to slacken his thirst. He had been walking for miles, heading in one direction down an old country road hoping to find some sign of civilization, a house, a car driving by. There was nothing except him, the road and the rain and he was beginning to think this was an elaborate trick; really he was just in another part of Hell. Soon the pits teaming with blood and screams would come roaring up to meet him to tear this little piece of Heaven out from under him. When at last he found a gas stop he found himself hesitating to go near it, he stood, watching and when he was satisfied that no one appeared to be inside he proceeded to the door scanned the inner building and broke through the pane of glass on the door with his cloth bound fist.

Turning the lock and then the knob he entered, finding some reprieve from the biting cold outside he wrung out his shirt and studied the aisles filled with snacks and magazines. Ignoring all these, his first stop was the cooler, out of order but he wasn't going to sulk over whether the bottled water was tepid or not. Grabbing one of the plastic containers he hastily unscrewed the cap and chugged down the contents of it. Coming up out of breath he sucked in his lower lip to catch the dribble of refreshment that had escaped. Next he chomped through a protein bar and was headed to the cash register to grab a bag to load up on supplies when the flashing lotto sign caught his eye. It wasn't the chance at winning thirty million that held his attention, it was the date September 18, 2008. Searching around him he grabbed up a newspaper from the stack and traced his gaze over the date. "September eighteenth..."

Four months...

He had trouble rationalizing it, he couldn't believe he was gone that long and yet it was just as difficult to believe such a short amount of time had passed. In Hell it was more like forty years than a meager four months. Snagging a bag from behind the counter he grabbed several protein bars and a couple more bottles of water, then back to the register where he emptied the float and shoved the money down into his damp pockets. The only question was what was his next move? He never noticed any cars parked outside and there wasn't any phone inside to speak of.

"What kinda place doesn't have a phone?" he asked in disbelief.

The sound of gravel crunching under tires sounded outside causing his attention to swing to the door. He slunk over to the back aisles and hid from sight, this could be his opportunity to get out of here and he didn't want to screw it up. "What the hell?" the person cursed when he found the door in the state it was in. Heaving a sigh the door swung open and the crunch of glass could be heard under their feet as they tried to avoid much of it. "Damn it," they huffed and dropped their keys and phone onto the counter, shuffling to the back to grab a broom and dustpan. That was when he moved opposite the other man to the front, slinking up to the counter he grabbed the guy's keys and phone and made to exit when his boots crunched on the glass alerting the gas stop employee to his presence. "Who the hell are you?" he called after the haggard homeless guy who broke into the store.

"The fucking candy man," he replied and bolted out the door towards the station wagon that was parked outside. Before the previous owner of the vehicle could catch up he was already speeding down the road away from the station. Checking his rearview to see that it was clear he picked up the stolen cell phone and flipped it open dialing Sam Winchester's number first when a voice answered declaring that the number was out of service he tried for one of Bobby's numbers instead. Holding the phone to his ear he prayed that someone would answer, that he would be able to hear a familiar voice, Sam's voice, Bobby's voice, anybody.

888

A few hours later Von was sitting at the small table in the kitchen, showered, fully clothed and clasping a mug of tea between her slender fingers. The mug was Bobby's but the tea was her own, as if the old man would ever carry anything else other than beer and holy water in his house. She supposed there was coffee for those early mornings and late nights when one needed to be wide-eyed and sober, this morning though she wanted to calm her nerves not jump them up. Holding the lip of the mug to her mouth Von took a gentle sip, savoring the flavors of mint and nettle as the liquid washed down her throat. Once she finished her drink she would go into the study to clean up her mess, Von continued to apologize hating that she could not always control her abilities.

Bobby told her that no real damage was done, just to get it cleaned up by the time he got back from town and then she could help him out with some auto repair work in the garage. It was more than fair for having worried him so much. Placing the empty mug in the sink Von began sorting through the papers and books. Finding she was reading more than filing away she started when she thought she heard the phone ring from the kitchen but when she went to reach for the phone on the wall she realized it hadn't been ringing at all. Frowning, butterflies began to flutter in her stomach when the phone she had reached for started to ring. Raising a tentative hand she lifted the receiver and placed it against her ear.

"Singer Salvage," she answered with relative ease. Von's frown returned when she felt the hesitance of the person on the other line, the caller was surprised. Perhaps by the fact that it was not Bobby that had answered.

Then he spoke, "Is Bobby Singer there?" The man's voice was gravelly and rich making her skin tingle at the sound, but it was everything she read from it that made her intrigued and maybe a little afraid. Where there was strength in his voice, there was also fear and a weakness that was only reined in by the force of control he willed upon it. This man had witnessed terror upon terrors and survived...or had he? "Hello?" His husky voice brushed against her ear.

Von blinked, knowing she had taken too long to answer because she had spaced out from absorbing all the information his voice provided. Swallowing she cleared her throat gently, "He's out at the moment, I can take a message if you like." Again the hesitation, Von could almost hear the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure things out amongst the confusion and concern in his thoughts.

"No, uh, do you know when he'll be back?" he asked casually.

"I'm not sure, he's running errands, he might not be back until later this evening," Von replied politely, an untrained ear or a normal person would never have been able to detect the faint hint of suspicion in the man's voice. To a psychic like her it was all too apparent, this man whatever his connection to Bobby was had no idea who she was and therefore instinctively mistrusted her. Von held no blame against him for it; she would have felt the same in his shoes.

"I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't give it." Von smiled in good humor into the receiver knowing the stranger could hear the smile in her voice, the warmth of it.

"Thanks for all your help."

Click.

Von hung up the phone lingering on the word "help", her mouth closed around the plea as her chest tightened and her face paled. Grabbing the phone she dialed Bobby's cell, he had to know, he had to know the man in the box was looking for him.

_Dean Winchester._

888

**Ekalaka, Montana**

After a few hours she had made it and managed to hide her car while doing so. She found a nice little empty garage that no one was using on the outskirts, hid it in there and locked it once she had everything she needed and more. Upon entering the town she made way for the motel, catching a room with a double bed considering they had no more rooms. The more space to spread out. Alex removed the folder she had compiled from a library and looked at the paper clippings. What confused her was that there were women on murder charges or had gone missing with their husband or boyfriend dead. The ones on murder charges eventually went missing as well out of their cells that baffled the police. She sighed, she needed a layout of the land, going by some of the victims houses and checking them over from a distance before doing so at night when prying eyes would be sleeping.

Alex closed the folder, exited and was walking down the sidewalk taking in the surroundings. Stopping at the sound of a rustle down a small alley in between two buildings, she glanced all around before removing her gun and heading through the opening. Sweeping the area she couldn't find anything until a moan fluttered to her ears. "Oh gross..." Alex said, not liking she walked into a potential blowjob.

Finding the couple she was about to turn around after seeing that there was nothing to be worried about, she hit a soda can on the asphalt, a hiss escaping the female devouring the male...literally devouring from what she could see. Alex raised her gun and aimed. The dazed near death look of the man caught her attention. Poor guy walked into the wrong alley. The woman before her shoved him out of the way, running at her and dodging her aim, Alex grew frustrated and backed up when she got too close. Body on top of body, the bitch was strong, mouth latching onto Alex's neck as she bit down when Alex had managed to remove her Bowie from her boot and stab it into her left side of her stomach.

_Use me. Use me!_

A wave flew from her sending the woman flying into a pile of trash. She didn't come back, instead ran, bleeding as she went. Alex stared at the sky, hand going to her neck, feeling a small trickle of blood but not enough meaning the bitch barely broke skin. Managing to stand she jogged over to the fallen victim, feeling a pulse she furrowed her brows, taking out her cell and calling the authorities and giving a fake badge number. Why would a succubus attack during the day in a small town? Once the man was taken care of and answers were given during the questioning she headed back into the motel room. The bite in the mirror was human so no fangs and she did piss the chick off. Alex disinfected it and placed a small patch on her neck glad her hair covered the mark. Glancing at her cell phone on the desk in the room she pursed her lips. Was she biting off more than she could chew here? Not even an hour in the town and there was activity and she got injured.

Rolling her eyes she picked it up and shot off a text to Maxwell, telling him to find her some backup.

888

The house was Von's for the rest of the day, Bobby told her that he was going to try to make his way back as soon as he could, just had some business he had to tie up with the sheriff and there wasn't going to be any quick way out of it. It was late evening now and he still wasn't back, which prompted another call from the worried red head. Bobby was fine and asked if the guy called back at all, Von never went to mentioning her suspicions on who the mystery caller was because she didn't want to unintentionally upset the elder hunter. She suspected Bobby's thoughts were in the same space as hers but she wanted to talk with him in length about it when he returned. Whatever happened Von was certain she could handle it on her own. Since phones could sometimes be tricky to get readings over, static and magnetic waves Von didn't want to jump to any conclusions though every instinct was telling her otherwise. She needed to learn to trust those instincts instead of allowing her stupid brain to get in the way and blind her with rationality. One day she would second guess herself and be on the wrong end of death and she would never get that needed chance to tell her brain to shut the hell up.

888

Dean wiped the sleep building in his eyes, threatening to take him under. The night was deep and dark and welcoming, but his will was stronger than his need. He had pushed the old piece of shit station wagon to its limits and it was starting to sound off on its last legs. It chugged and shuddered, belching smoke out its back and if it started up in the front Dean was really going to start having problems. He urged it on a little further but it could take no more. The headlights flickered out and it cranked out its last wheeze rolling to a halt. The hunter climbed from the car, he had no flashlight or streetlamps to go by, and luckily the pale white glow of a waning gibbous moon showed him the path. He looked down the road and watched and listened to the dark. It was only another mile at the least. Dean would have to hoof it.

888

"Make sure you put them in the four corners of the house, I don't think they're gonna mind buying some plaster. Don't you think that beats an ambulance ride or a funeral? Yeah you got it, that should give you enough time to deal with it." Von was absorbed in tinkering with an engine in the garage while she was answering another hunter's questions over the phone about a poltergeist in Connecticut. Rag in her hand wiping them of grease when she turned around the corner, silent on her end to listen to the guy talking about his hunt Von saw a stranger hovering around the back door before entering inside. "You're on your own, gotta go."

The phone slid out from between her cheek and shoulder into her hand and she carefully pulled her knife from her jeans and tucked the oily rag into her back pocket. As she neared the entrance the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, she listened, and waited, watching the windows and seeing movement within. Reaching out Von skillfully opened the door without much of a sound. Stealthily moving towards the sliding doors that opened towards the stairs she peered around the corner catching a shadow moving in front of the doors to the kitchen. Von stepped back into the hallway with every muscle coiling she readied herself to spring on the intruder, she could feel his energy trickle throughout the rooms and almost hear his voice in her head. This had to be the man on the phone, supposedly the recently deceased Dean Winchester according to her suspicions but until she came face to face with him she couldn't know for sure.

Dean felt relief mixed with tension, the familiarity was comforting but dampened by the anxiety of possible tragedy. He worried that something had happened to Bobby, that was why a strange woman had answered his landline instead. Then his thoughts drifted to Sam, his phone was disconnected and he feared the worst about his brother. Knots worked in his stomach and he swallowed the fear down until it became manageable, he didn't know anything for sure he had to stop jumping the gun. A phone in one hand and her knife in the other Von was ready to swing around the corner before the man could make heads or tails of her. It was only a fraction of a second when the man appeared in front of her, wasting no time in an attempt to restrain her.

"Who are you?!"

Von kicked and swung the cordless phone down on his head with a smack letting him stagger back from alarm under the hallway lamp. Finally getting a clean look at the stranger Von's heart leapt hard against her chest, threatening to climb up her throat. She had been set on not believing such a thing was possible, old memories came flooding back to her like new and she saw a boy of eighteen that she had known a few months out of a school year a long time ago. Von thought she caught the same expression of recognition on Dean's face as they stared at each other. Then that image flashed and she saw him soaked in blood, rivulets rolling down his pale freckled skin and wild green eyes bright like living glass. The unsettling image was anything but human.

"No," Von cautioned when Dean lunged at her like a wildcat snatching one of her arms when she tried to dodge, instinctively Von swung out with the phone again but it clattered useless to the ground when Dean grabbed hold of her wrist and twisted bringing his weight down on top of her, in Von's right hand the handle of her knife acted as a brace when her fist connected with Dean's jaw.

His head snapped backwards with an "oopmh", unfortunately Von hoped that would loosen his grip on her wrist. It didn't and a yelp emitted from her mouth coupled with a growl. Dean had to admit, the red head was striking, not exactly what he was expecting and there was something damn familiar that he couldn't place his finger on about her. Too bad she made the wrong move with cracking that phone against his head and brandishing a silver blade. He had intended to catch both her wrists but she was faster than he had given her credit for, that earned him a good hit to the jaw. Dean wasn't planning on making that mistake again.

Keeping her left arm pinned they wrestled with the knife first it nicked Dean's wrist and then sliced into Von's upper arm. Von fought to get her leg between them, jamming her knee into his side as much as she could and trying not to let the pain spiking down her left wrist into her arm faze her. With a growl she pulled her leg up followed by the other and yelled with the effort of pushing his weight up and over her own body. Dean was launched overhead releasing Von's wrist and landing on half on his side where he scrambled to his feet. He chased after the red head when she sprinted into the study stopping short of missing the Holy water that splashed him full on the face.

"Not a demon," the correction rumbled out of his chest. Von was trying to go through the tests while attempting to avoid being tied up, or outright killed, she would have explained but they were well passed diplomacy.

"God damn it!" Von yelled, soon finding they were in close quarters again scrapping like two street cats fighting over territory and where Dean was strong Von was fast.

The dagger Von held was lost among the books and scrolls in Bobby's study so it was up to physical prowess alone until one of them lucked out and found another weapon. Dean could not keep a handle on Von, even after punching her clean in the face, a move that would have floored a heavier guy she wobbled backwards from the blow wiped the blood from her busted lip and charged back in for more. Again Dean forced them both to the ground and they were so tangled together that any movement caused the both of them discomfort and pain. Von in the heat of ferocity felt she had no other choice but to wrap her mouth around Dean's forearm and bite down hard.

At first he showed a surprising amount of resistance until he howled in pain withdrawing from her grip, Von released her jaw without Dean having to wield his fists into her head anymore and the two of them lay half crouched a bristling space from another as they regained their wind. "You bitch!" Dean panted angrily looking down at the bite on his arm, two rows of teeth were indented into the flesh, the little dips already broken vessel hues of purple and red with one puckering out a small amount of blood. He went to make a move for her again when the muzzle of a gun kissed the back of his head and the distinct sound of that gun's hammer cocking back came to his ears.

"You so much as twitch an eyelash and your brains will be decorating the walls," Bobby's gruff voice threatened from behind him.

Dean's eyes widened with a flurry of emotions but he dared not to move, his eyes however smoldered into a smite-filled glare towards Von. Still more than shaken from Dean's bloodied image and pumping with adrenaline Von picked herself up off the floor, she stared down at Dean seeing the animal in his eyes but also the confusion and all those very real human emotions hidden deep within them. Leaning against the door jamb Von took several long breaths as she observed the two men. Bobby was having a difficult time with seeing Dean alive and kicking let alone pointing a gun at the man that was like a son to him. The sheer impossibility of it had him believing it wasn't Dean at all but some kind of monster that had a sick sense of humor, or a revenant coming back to one of i's old haunts.

"It's him Bobby, really him. I wasn't sure at first either, but now I am," she assured with a nod.

"You sure." He was loathe to inch the gun away from the sandy brown hair. Dean swallowed hard, he couldn't look behind him so he kept his green orbs trained on the woman. Confused, he wondered why she was defending him after they had been kicking the holy shit out of each other, after he had serious considerations about killing her, probably after torturing her to find out where Sam and Bobby were.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Von winced when she moved, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand and coming away with a speck of blood. "There was just a misunderstanding."

_Nice understatement there,_ she thought_, we could have killed each other because we thought we were monsters but it was just a misunderstanding._

"Neither one of ya looks like it was just a misunderstandin'." Bobby stared hard at Von and lowered the gun from Dean's head and shared the same look with him when the man turned and looked up with relief washing over his features. Pushing off on his knee to get to his feet Bobby grabbed him into a bear hug, causing Dean to groan from the bruises that Von had inflicted on him. Pulling away Dean couldn't help a small smile on his face

"So who is she?" Dean asked Bobby, his less angry and more curious green eyes gazed at her.

"Von MacKinnon," she answered. When Dean balked in disbelief she replied, "So you do remember me after all."

888

"Million dollar question, how'd you get out?" Bobby eased into his chair and gazed at Dean steadily.

The Winchester shook his head in puzzlement. "I don't have a damn clue, one minute I was dog food and the next I was coughing up dirt. No I don't remember anything else, I was down and then six feet under then out...I don't know Bobby."

"Well whatever it was it didn't sew up yer shredded hide an' give ya a new set of guts out of the goodness of its heart." He narrowed his eyes a fraction to see if he could tell if anything was wrong. Von was certain that Dean was Dean, she was the closest psychic for fifty miles, she would know, and Bobby wasn't denying that it was the genuine article standing in front of him. "There's something about this that's damn-right unsettlin'," Bobby concluded.

"You don't think I know that? But I sure as shit wasn't gonna wait around there and hope whoever or whatever pulled me out showed up. The place creeped the hell out of me." He shook his head and reached for the tumbler of whiskey on the desk, taking a long pull and setting the empty glass back down. "Where's Sam?"

"Alive," Bobby shrugged helplessly. He didn't know much more than that, Sam would come back around when he was ready. He was glad that Von had been able to let him know that the youngest Winchester was still out there somewhere.

Dean was mid-nod when he stopped, "What's with the-" he shrugged mockingly. "You don't know? Bobby you were supposed to be looking after him," he accused incredulously.

"He's alive," Bobby snapped at him, "I haven't seen him in four months, an' those four months haven't exactly been easy for us." Backing down Dean muttered a browbeaten apology. He felt lost and was scrambling to gain his footing, and up until Von had tenderized him he had been feeling pretty good. Better than a man could have hoped after being a hellhound's chew toy.

888

**Ekalaka, Montana**

_I don't understand what the big deal is._

"You pushed that succubus off of me."

_Oh so you didn't want her to leave you alone? You didn't want to stay alive?_

Alex glared at herself in the mirror. "That is not the point. The point is that you broke through and I'm in charge. You can't break through, I've had precautions taken up and you know that."

_Just because they are there doesn't mean I can't try and find a way around them Alex. You are human and that makes you weak. Do you honestly think you can hold me forever? Even bits of me? The point is I saved our ass and you are pissed off that you couldn't do it._

Spinning around to end the conversation even though she clearly didn't need a mirror to have one with herself. It was like she was psychotic hearing the voice in her head but there was nothing she could do. The precautions had been set in place by a shaman that was most likely ripping her off because they were falling apart in pieces. She had been pacing the motel room going through the information in the folder in her hands and checking her cell phone. Maxwell was taking his sweet damn time to get back to her and it was frustrating. The more the other part talked the more she wanted a drink or two.

"Come on Maxwell. Get your ass in gear and find someone," she spat at the phone, pocketing it and leaving the room. She was going to go visit the victim and see what he remembered and if he was okay.

888

Maxwell had called every hunter he knew and all of them were busy with something whether it was hunt related or family. Family cases tended to be a bit more serious when it collided with the line of work they were in and things were going crazy places. Sitting and drinking a beer as he stared at his phone book he scowled at the sight of Bobby Singer left to be called. Of all the people to ask for assistance from it had to be the elder that helped the Winchesters break open the Devil's Gate in Wyoming. Taking a long pull he stared at the name and flicked his eyes to the phone knowing that Alex needed someone and he knew very well that she wasn't on good terms with Bobby anymore either...not many hunters were since what happened. Tapping his finger against the bottle he gave a gruff sound as he punched in the numbers and placed the phone to his ear.

Hearing the line ring for a bit he almost decided to hang up when someone answered. Knowing full well that it was Bobby talking he cleared his throat and opened his mouth. "Singer this is Maxwell. I got a hunter who needs backup in Ekalaka, Montana for a succubus hunt. Got anybody up your sleeve, send em' there as fast as you can. And don't think that this means anything by me calling." Not waiting for an answer he hung up and texted Alex back. He knew that Bobby would have someone, he always did.

_'Found someone. Good luck.'_

888

Dean leaned into the spray of the shower, the heat working away at the colonies of knots that intersected along his back. He couldn't remember how long he stood like that until he started to wash the grime off his skin. The water tracked rivers down his muddy sweat stained skin, clots of four month old blood peeled off in thin lines from his abdomen to coil and be washed down the drain. Dirt caked fingers worked in the soap lathering up his arms and down again, the soap entering the bite Von gave him made him hiss and he quickly rinsed it clean. He couldn't believe she actually bit him, maybe another place and another time without her teeth puncturing his skin he would have liked it. Giving just a moment of thought to it given the chance he probably would have bitten her too. Not a usual fighting tactic of his but things had changed.

Von had changed too from what Dean remembered. He never did forget about her, how could he? He thought that if he ever saw her again she would still be that skinny baggy clothed wisp of a girl that never made a noise louder than a church mouse. She had been cute, in a nerdy sort of way, Sam definitely had a bit of a thing for her but she was messed up just like them and maybe more damaged than they were. Their mom died when they were kids, Von watched her parents get torn to shreds in front of her eyes when she was fifteen. She would have died too if their dad and Bobby hadn't been there to save her, after that Dean was fuzzy on the details about what happened to her, only that Bobby's place had become Singer's House of Orphans.

They had been dropped off and spent less than half a year at Sioux Falls High. The next time they came around Bobby was threatening to blow a load of buckshot up John's ass and they never came back after that. Not until John died. Working his hands down to his abdomen Dean was half expecting his skin to come loose and his guts to come spilling out into the tub at his feet. He even scraped his fingers against his stomach, scratching the skin with his jagged unkempt nails. Satisfied that he was intact and no limbs were going to fall off anytime soon Dean finished up by washing the mess out of his hair. He felt a little more like a human being now that he was clean. Wiping away the fog on the mirror he gave himself a once over. Not a single mark was on him, not even his old scars. Then he noticed the angry red impression of someone's hand on his shoulder, his hand had skimmed over the smooth scar like distortions while he was in the shower, he remembered being grabbed but he didn't know by who or what. Or why.

888

Bobby hung up the phone from the rude awakening of a call. Maxwell never was a polite guy in any retrospect and that was mostly why the jobs he did he wasn't a good undercover man. Writing down the information he was given he took up his glass and drank before removing his cap and running his hand along his scalp. Replacing the familiar cover, the elder stared at the piece of paper. His attention went away from it to glance at Von where she was tending to the small wounds here and there from the fight. Piercing his lips he shook his head after a thought. It'd be too soon. He hadn't sent anyone out on a hunt for some time, not many called and those that did got the bad end of his drunken stupor on most nights. How could he ask Von to go on a hunt? What about Dean now that he was back? That was too soon and Bobby knew that Dean was probably itching to find Sam wherever the kid was.

Then again this might be good. Von needed to get out and away from him. She was good and had been there for him and him in return but there were more important things than sitting around while Hell was coming to the world around them. "Succubus trouble in Ekalaka, Montana. Sound interesting to ya?" Bobby asked, bringing the tumbler to his lips to feel the burn of liquid. He faced Dean who was entering the doorway to the study where they were, clean and dressed. Eyes flicking to the two of them he was thrown back to when they were teenagers. "Might not be a bad idea and now that ya topside, need all the hunters we can get. Gives ya chance to try and find Sam when ya done too."

_Who knows? It might be good for the both of them...or make things worse._

888

Von pulled the moist lavender tea bag away from her split lip, acknowledging Dean as he entered the room. _He cleans up nicely,_ she thought. "You know how I feel about working with other hunters Bobby, I'm also sure that Dean is more interested in finding Sam than snuffing a succubus in some backwoods town, especially with someone like me."

"Why, what's wrong with you? I know you'll fight till the last tooth and nail, literally. I have the scars to prove it now." Dean pointed at his lower arm. "She's right though Bobby, another hunter can pick this up, we need to find Sam," he insisted.

Bobby shook his head, "Could take a while to find a hunter that can take the job, Maxwell has a list longer than my leg. He wouldn't have called me to ask unless he found someone his own self, trust me."

Von sneered at the name Maxwell, she had dealings with him before, there were lots of hunters that had to go through him for jobs and occasionally supplies. She supposed he was like Bobby but not nearly as cuddly and dumber than a sack of fly eaten crap. With a sigh Von sat up in her chair taking the tea bag from her lip again. "I guess I'm getting tired of sitting around here anyway," She stood up and walked to the kitchen to dispose of the used tea bag. "Did Maxwell bother tell you this hunter's name?" She stood in the doorway between the kitchen and study. "No, of course he didn't," she answered the question from the expression on Bobby's face before he could say anything out loud.

"Other hunter?" Dean asked puzzled that Von knew when he was pretty sure he had heard the same conversation she had.

Von could feel his eyes on her and it made her uncomfortable, guess they never found the time yet to tell Dean about Von's special skills. She suspected he had no real problem with psychics, he had used them in the past, but a part of her could see that he thought they were freaks. And she was picking up something else, something about Sam..."There's another hunter already there, guess they're in over their head an' need back up," Bobby explained. Von glanced at the elder and shook her head leaving the study to go upstairs and pack her things. She knew Bobby was going to convince Dean to go with her and there was no point in argueing, he knew Dean better than she did. "Sam's roughly in that area, Von can drop you off on her way to Ekalaka," Bobby added once he heard Von moving around upstairs.

"How do you know where he is?" Dean asked suspiciously.

"Von told me," he answered with a sigh, knowing he was going to have to explain more than he intended. Otherwise Dean was going to find out some other way and knowing his luck it would be at the worst time imaginable.

"How does she know?"

888

"I'm assuming Bobby told you?" Von cast a glance at Dean in the passenger seat to see him nod, his eyes were distant with thought from what she could see as the streetlamp flashed passed them overhead. Returning her eyes to the road in front of her, she sighed a little; she knew Bobby had told Dean, that didn't make it any less frustrating to deal with. She was nothing like his brother if that's what he was worried about, Von knew better than to ask though. "We have a nine hour drive ahead of us, this isn't going to be a problem is it?" she asked.

"I don't have a problem with it." Dean looked over at her defensively.

"Good," Von answered, reaching down to turn the volume dial of the radio. The station fizzled onto Bon Jovi's 'Dead or Alive' coming over the speakers. Von reacted immediately to the music by shoving an ejected cassette into the tape deck adjusting the volume when 'Round and Round' by Ratt began to play. Dean continued to stare at her though the expression on his face had changed from a little annoyed to disturbed, he wasn't deaf, he had heard what had been playing. "I didn't like the song," Von shrugged innocently.

"Right..." Dean turned away to stare out the side window, "Bon Jovi sucks."

888

**Bozeman, Montana**

Bringing his hands to his face as he splashed the water on and through his hair, he stared into the sink. Exhaling he had just gone through another small training for a brush up on his abilities. With Ruby it was never stop and always going. When was the last time he slept? Sam raised his head and braced his hands on both sides of the porcelain sink, meeting his blue-green orbs in the reflection. His face had hardened ever so slightly over the past four months. He remembered that night in a fit of rage, drunk and beyond repair. Remembered seeing the woman before him, face full of disgust and a small trace of pity. Ruby had found him that day and saved him from drowning. It wasn't the best journey, fighting and denial as well as shoving her away. She had abandoned him that night when Lilith took over and killed his brother.

Could he honestly believe that she wasn't working for Lilith with the circumstance? He had found himself being dragged up by her hands, stripped and shoved into the shower full of cold water as she poured all the liquor she could find down the drain and any pills he had into the toilet. Temptation was gone and all there was, was Ruby and his pain and guilt. She helped him, ironically...rebuilt him into better shape and gave him something better to fight for. Revenge against Lilith and taught him to use something within him he didn't even know he had. Sam straightened completely before turning around and exiting. Eyes finding Ruby cleaning up her items before turning around. Energized and worn out he shook his head knowing she was expecting something greater from his time to think from their last session. "How much longer do we have to keep doing this? When is it going to be time?"

"It'll be time when you're ready, and you're far from ready Sam."

Ruby shook her head. When the oversized brunette glared at her she shrugged it off. She needed him strong and progress was slow, if she wasn't as dedicated to the cause as she was she would have given up on him weeks ago. Before she met him she had heard about him, the notorious Winchester brothers, the youngest one hand-picked by Azazel himself. Yellow-eyes always had a soft spot for Sam and compared to the rest he had shown remarkable promise. But sooner or later time was going to run out, so Ruby had to keep pushing to get results.

Sam stepped closer to her and spun her around to face him as anger showed in his face. "How do you know that? I've done nothing but what you have told me and asked of me! I've lost sleep, I've been worn down till I'm bleeding and near passed out. What more do I need to do?!"

Ruby stared up at him, her face hard, "Try harder," she grit out, "you go in half assed it's going to be your head on a plate instead of Lilith's," she jabbed her finger into his chest for emphasis. Turning around again she walked away. "Get some sleep, you need it."


	3. Reunion Part 1

**Ekalaka, Montana**

**September 19, 2008**

**4:02AM**

She woke up with a massive headache. Alex had tried to sleep yet again because her body protested and what was worse was that she had the same nightmare and now this. The bottle of pain killers in her hand, she took a couple with water before redressing the bite and taking a squinted glance at her cell phone. She hadn't checked it till now as she was too busy swallowing down tumbler after tumbler of whiskey and if she recalled correctly she mixed her drinks. Not the best idea but she managed the hangover. Maxwell had found her someone, didn't say who but right now she didn't care. The guy that she had spoken to didn't remember anything other than the fact that he wanted to see if the woman was okay. The one that was his soul mate or some shit.

After hearing him gush about her and mention some words that made her want to vomit with the sexual testosterone gathered into his human body, she had left and made her way to the bar. The strange part was that nothing suspicious was happening after her run in. Sure there was flirting going on but nothing that could tell her anything off the bat whether they were just horny or really a succubus. Double checking the time she hated that she was doing it but thought on that hunter part that said she needed a clear head, pulled from behind the precautions and took away the hangover, washing it away and locking it back up.

_Naughty girl. Doesn't that go against your code?_

"One time thing. I need to think about this case and I can't do that with my head pounding the way it is."

_Whatever you say, boss._

888

**Five hours later**

**Rapid City, South Dakota**

Over half way to Ekalaka Von and Dean stopped in the city to grab a bite to eat. Five hours might have been a lot to take in one sitting but really Von needed a break from having Dean as a passenger. It didn't happen as often as she thought it would have but off and on she would feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up and see him splattered in fresh blood. The image was so vivid, the crimson streaks reflecting off his pale skin whenever a light went by, even when the inside of the car was pitch black she could still see it, the contrast was too deep. She could even smell it and it lingered after the vision went away. They never spoke much aside from Dean paying her the compliment that she had good taste in music, then they fell back into their own thoughts. Von was only concentrating on driving and trying to keep flashes of Dean's thoughts from entering her head, he was remembering some pretty gruesome things, the only way she was able to manage it was that she had her own dealings with that kind of reality.

There was a hole in the wall burger joint they pulled up to that would suit them just fine. The six footers climbed out of the '72 Nova and stretched, Von raised her arms and arched her back with a little moan of satisfaction, then bent down into the vehicle to grab her leather jacket. It was good to breathe fresh air again and to be able to move, she loved her car but she liked being out with space around her more. Dean gave her a quick once over, the knee was out of the left leg of her jeans, she wore a plain black tank top with a dark purple button down overtop rolled up below her elbows. One wrist had more bracelets than the other with an assortment of weaves, beads and metals and four fingers were adorned with simple silver rings. When she passed him to enter the diner his eyes landed on her backside watching her hips roll from side to side.

His attention quickly shot back up when she turned around. "Satisfied? she queried with a knowing expression on her face that read she wasn't entirely impressed by him undressing her with his eyes.

Dean tried to appear innocent then smirked; the simple curl of his lips was both bashful and devious. "I'll let you know when I've had my fill," he told her.

Von tried to appear in good humor but the attempt fell short when her mind drifted to other things and she quietly sat across from Dean at the booth in the middle of the restaurant. I suppose it's a good sign that you're showing a healthy appetite in all things, means you haven't completely lost your humanity, she kept the thought to herself as she scanned the menu. Dean couldn't help it; he was a red blooded guy. It wasn't his fault that Von had grown out of her scrawny tom boyishness, she wasn't just the cute shy girl anymore, she was damn attractive, even bruised up with a split lip she was beautiful. There had always been something to her, a wildness she always had, it was just now that he was old enough to understand it and put a name to it. And the psychic thing made a whole lot more sense now from the time he had spent with her when they were younger; he had been fascinated with the red head and a little afraid of her too back then from how she acted sometimes.

Von looked up from her menu at Dean without him noticing then flicked her green orbs towards the waitress that stopped at their table. She was chewing gum to cover up that she had just been out on a smoke break but it wasn't working, the words coming out of her mouth were minty fresh but every time she moved the stench of tar smoke came off of her. The waitress paid just a touch more attention to Dean thinking Von wouldn't notice but she had, she wasn't naive she knew what flirting was. The red head suspected this was usually the case wherever Dean went, women would flock to him attracted to the rugged yet delicate features he possessed, he was the quintessential chick magnet. Even Von had been affected when she first heard his voice but she was much more sensitive than most people.

"What are you laughing at?" Dean quirked an eyebrow at Von's giggling.

"Oh nothing, I just think it's funny. That those lame pick-up lines actually work for you, you're lucky you have your looks."

"Wha-I wasn't even hitting on her!" Dean exclaimed. He couldn't believe that Von was picking on him about that, his pick-up lines were awesome, she was just uneducated in how amazing his methods of seduction were. "Maybe I would have if I wasn't being distracted by someone else."

"Stop it, Dean," Von insisted quietly.

"Stop what?" he frowned.

"Stop, flirting with me." She traced her finger on the edge of her fork with downcast eyes.

Dean's frown deepened for a moment but he nodded, "Alright." He leaned back into his seat with his coffee and took a drink. So the awkward shy girl was still in there after all, aside from that Dean couldn't help wonder if there was something else bothering her, she had that look. Neither one of them spoke again until food was placed down in front of them; after Dean finished his burger and Von was halfway through hers he asked the big question. "So, where's Sam?" He watched her shrugged with a mouthful of food. That wasn't the answer he wanted to hear, his face hardened with agitation. What do you mean you don't know?"

Von swallowed her bite and took a long drink of her milkshake. "I can't get an accurate location from him, we've tried all his phone numbers, and I've used all other methods I know of. He's found a way to block everything, or someone's done it for him. And what I mean by that is it's no easy feat putting up that kind of warding for every possible tracking spell in existence."

"What the hell are we going to do now then?" the angry Winchester demanded.

Von pushed away what remained of her food. "I can probably hone in on him if I get close enough to where he is, kinda like a radar."

"Okay, that's awesome," Dean sounded hopeful.

"But I'm not leaving Ekalaka until I finish the job," she added, knowing he was going to be far from happy with her response but she didn't really care, she wasn't going to change her mind. "You can try finding him on your own, but that could take a while, like looking for a needle in a haystack while being blindfolded in the dark."

"Then I guess I'm going with you to Ekalaka then," he decided.

"I know. Because that's what Bobby wanted, the sly bastard." Von threw some bills on the table and grabbed her jacket pulling it on while she headed towards the door.

Dean followed after, "Bobby knew I'd have a bitch of a time finding Sam without you and he knew you wouldn't help me without finishing the job he sent you on," he deduced with a nod from Von to confirm it.

_That sneaky son of a bitch,_ Dean thought disbelievingly.

He didn't know why Bobby wanted them to work together, maybe it was out of sentiment but a lot had happened since they knew each other back in school. "You knew the whole time and you didn't argue with him about it?" Dean slammed the passenger door behind him, fastening his seatbelt.

"Have you ever won an argument with Bobby?"

888

**Ekalaka, Montana**

**7:15PM**

The duties for the day concluded of a sweep of the rest of the town and questioning some of the locals. Alex was about ready to pound her head against a rock with how much this case was pulling her in for. In the time that she had been there two more women had disappeared and one male had died. She visited his body at the morgue to get a good look at the wounds and try and see if she could find anything the others missed. When it came to Succubi they weren't very discreet in their deaths when you looked at their leftovers. A small headache was beginning to form in pressure at the front of her skull but it wasn't bad. Alex deduced it was from the stress.

She had found herself at the bar she had occupied last night and flipped through the coroner's report, the reports she had taken from questioning and pictures of the victims and missing women. Alex only ordered tequila this time with a lime, taking the shot and sucking on it till there were no more juices. Eyes fluttered from the articles in front of her and the bar around her. People were crowding in, setting up games at the dart board and another group at one of the pool tables. Biting her bottom lip she thought hard. Maybe she should just wait with all she had and start up something, after all she was low on cash and her car did guzzle up the gas. Closing the files she left her jacket on the table with it, knowing no one would bother with her stuff as she made her way to rack up the numbers and grab a stick.

888

**Ekalaka, Montana**

**7:30PM**

The Nova had been briefly parked outside of the only motel in town when Von returned from the lobby to Dean who had been half sitting on the hood of her car with his hands tucked into the pockets of his leather jacket. She tossed a set of keys at him and he caught it without much effort, gazing down at the item in his hand and then a questioning glance at her when he saw her tuck another set of motel keys with a different number into her pocket.

"What was our cover again?" Dean reminded her, shoving his room keys into his own pocket and walking around with her to the trunk.

"We're a journalist couple travelling the Lower Forty-eight in search of stories worth blogging about. But you see we're deeply Christian and since we're not married we need separate rooms."

Dean rolled his eyes and sighed, "What do you think is going to happen if we shared a room? You told me to stop hitting on you, I'm not that big of a pervert."

"Trust me, I make a crappy roommate." Von hauled her duffle over her shoulder, "at least our rooms are right next to each other."

_Though if I could have helped it they wouldn't have been._

It wasn't a matter of trust, Dean wouldn't fuck her over if she didn't fuck him over, he was an honourable man, but Von needed her space and her privacy. More so because she didn't want to freak Dean out by waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with salty tears leaking down her face, she hoped the walls were thick enough that in case she let out a scream he wouldn't be able to hear it. Dean grabbed his own gear and closed the trunk down, each hunter disappearing into their respective rooms. Tossing his bag onto the foot of the bed Dean headed straight for the washroom to relieve himself.

Splashing cold water on his face he stared at his expression in the mirror, Dean couldn't look for long before his mind was piling up with memories of Hell. A small tingle of dread crept into him, wondering if Von had been able to see any of that when she looked at him, he didn't want anyone seeing what he had seen. What he had done. Setting up his room came back easily to him, salt at all points of entry, a hidden Devil's Trap under the carpet he had cut up with his knife. Satisfied with the setup he went next door and knocked waiting until Von opened the door and let him in, Dean stood and looked around, Von's set up was much more elaborate than his. He thought for a second that she was overdoing it but he supposed a hunter could never go overboard on protection.

"Wanna hit up the local watering hole, I'm thirsty and it would give us a chance to scope out some of the town."

888

"This town reeks of sex," Von stated as the two of them walked down the street to the bar, "I mean the energy is bouncing all over the place, I can barely get a read on anything else."

Dean shrugged, "Succubus is marking her territory, maybe that's why the entire town is in the bar tonight instead of locked safely in their homes." The inside of the bar showed it wasn't suffering any from the town's current misfortunes. The patrons were going about their business like nothing was stalking them in the shadows, abducting and tearing them to pieces.

Von muttered something about sheep, when Dean glanced at her in askance she replied, "Nevermind," and moved further into the room full of people.

She wasn't sure how long she would be able to stay here, the energy in the room combined with the amount of people was not a fun mix for a claustrophobic psychic but she was determined to do her best. The sooner they finished this the sooner she could help Dean find Sam and be on her way. They found a nice booth that gave them a view of most of the bar, it wasn't always a convenience for a hunter to get the best seat in the house, this time they just got lucky. Von had her feelers out when the waitress asked them what they wanted to drink, she wasn't paying much attention to when Dean ordered his beer until he nudged her under the table with his boot.

"You don't have my brand," was what came out of her mouth instead of a drink order, the waitress looked down her nose at Von and walked away.

"I didn't realize you had such fine tastes, your Highness," Dean quipped sarcastically. "Ouch." His hand reached down and his rubbed his shin where Von had kicked him with her own boot.

Tearing her gaze away from the people she was observing she stared at Dean from across the table and leaned in so that she wouldn't have to raise her voice. "Something's not right here."

"You mean aside from the obvious?" Dean replied and wrapped his hand around the beer that had been placed in front of him.

Von's spidey sense went off when she eyed the drink and she placed two fingers over the mouth of the bottle. "How does a succubus infect her victims, Dean? Through bodily fluids, sweat, tears, saliva..."

Dean lowered his gaze onto the beer and frowned, he really wanted a drink but he didn't want to become a sex crazed zombie and fuck everything in sight until his dick fell off bloody and raw. "I thought she was taking the women and killing the men? You're right, it does take two to fuck." Dean pushed the full bottle away from him and took in his own observations, for all appearances nothing was really out of place; it wasn't like orgies were happening all around them.

With more men than women in the room Dean became disgusted with the idea of it and shook his head to try to get the image out of his mind. Dean turned back around when Von pointed behind him, she had been watching a brunette woman by the pool tables for several solid minutes, she couldn't believe who she was seeing. "Son of a bitch."

Alex took up the man's money as he stepped away, a broad smile on her face while pocketing the cash. So gullible, every single one of them. Setting up the set again she couldn't help but feel eyes on her. Frowning, face becoming serious she glanced around and yet saw no one in particular. The room was a little fuzzy. Blinking really fast a few times she turned back and shook her head. There were consequences to using what was locked inside her, sometimes it worked fully and other times it left small pieces. Not that she did it all the time but when she was desperate.

Inhaling she had only hustled one man and hoped to draw in another sucker but it seemed her chances were slim. Alex set the stick on the table and headed for her stuff she had left. Stepping up to it beside a man and woman who looked oddly perfect coupled together she noticed how their eyes flashed to her. Rolling her eyes and scoffing under her breath she pulled on her jacket and grabbed the file, walked past and out the door to the bar. She did not swing that way if that was what they were thinking. The outside was empty, no one about and she knew that any person who exited into the dark fall embrace would be first pickings. Hearing the door to the bar open and the ruckus escape, Alex tightened her jaw. Someone was following her. Four footfalls. Making a detour she headed down the alley in between the convenience store and an office she veered another right shortly after. Her back to the brick she grabbed her Bowie and .45.

Waiting for them to get closer she calmed her breathing. A hiss came from behind causing Alex to revert her attention and find the succubus that had attacked her yesterday. "Fuck," she breathed.

The gun came in front of her and fired, hitting the left shoulder a shriek came out making Alex cover her ears at how close it was. A hand on her throat and another on her wrist holding the gun, Alex was officially pinned and choking being lifted so her toes could barely touch the ground. "You are going to have to doooo," the succubus drawled, twisting her wrist to let the gun release, the knife came next. Alex fought as best as she could even when her jaw was being forced open and another mouth was on hers, kissing. Slowly the sensation changed and Alex felt weaker with each change in kiss. The world began to blur and she closed her eyes, barely hearing the disturbance or caring that she was released and laying down on the dirty asphalt.

_Hey, you can't die now. What was that? You fight better than that! What is wrong with you? Get up! Get up and fight! Alex? Alex!_

All became dark as she lost consciousness.

The brunette was trying to lose them down an alley but with their combined senses it would have been nearly impossible unless she vanished entirely into thin air. Dean had taken point with Von close behind, sensing more than the woman up ahead Von tapped Dean on the shoulder and signaled to him to be ready for trouble, he replied by taking his Colt 1911 from where it had been tucked into his jeans, flicking the safety off and chambering a round before lowering it to a ready position. Von didn't hesitate in copying Dean's movements, her hand moving underneath her jacket to pull out her Beretta 92FS and slowly they both stalked towards their target. When they heard the sound of a single gunshot going off they both dropped into a dead run towards the noise.

"Get off her!" Dean shouted, squeezing down on the trigger a bullet landed home in the woman's chest and she didn't have a chance to scream before she dropped dead on the pavement.

"The one in the dress," Von yelled and fired on the creature, there were three of them but only one was the genuine monster, the other two were infected by the succubus' poison. Part of her family.

Von felt disgusted as the information entered her head, what did a succubus want a family for, they were usually solitary creatures. The infected woman rushed them with a shrill scream but Von blew out one of her kneecaps with her gun before she managed to get close enough to try to pass on the virus, if it was that. The succubus screamed and turned tail running down the street with amazing speed, Von took after her while Dean crouched down to check on the other female hunter. When Von returned empty handed Dean knew the succubus had gotten away.

"Alex Tatiani." Dean parted her hair to see her face.

"Yeah, this is turning out to be a regular high school reunion," Von huffed, "now let's grab her and get outta here unless the whole town's deaf someone definitely heard us."

888

"If she's been poisoned shouldn't she be awake trying to fuck the hell out of everything?" Dean stood with his arms folded at the foot of the bed in his room staring down at the prone form of Alex.

Von rolled her eyes, Dean was correct but he wasn't exactly eloquent about it. She nodded, standing next to him in her own spot by the bed, "It looks like it's just making her sick," she frowned.

"What's with the poop face?" Dean questioned.

"Poop face?" Von's brow furrowed and she looked at Dean questioningly.

"You've been making that face every time you've been thinking about something that doesn't make sense," he observed as he went back to watching the brunette.

"People get sick because the body is fighting off a foreign invading bacteria or virus. However I think what the succubus infects her victims with is more like a drug, they're injected and it messes with their perception, disturbs various chemical balances, mostly hormones so that they're constantly aroused and then the succubus feeds off of that energy." Von stepped around to the side of the bed to get a closer look at Alex, her skin prickled with Goosebumps. "There's something else at work here, it's stopping her from becoming like those other women but it's making her seriously ill. Whatever it is though, I don't like it."

Dean raised his eyebrows, "You want her to be a sex fiend?"

"I don't mean that. I'm not getting a good feeling from it, it's dark. I don't know how to fix this, but there are some things I could try that might stabilize her," Von explained before stepping away from the bed and going through some items in a leather messenger bag she had brought in once they made Alex comfortable.

"We gank the evil bitch and everyone goes back to normal," Dean explained, "we just have to find her first."

Voices were echoing to her ears, nothing made sense with the words that processed. Invading bacteria. Sick. Dark. Fix...Alex was beginning to come to at the sounds, feeling her fingers move slightly she gave a small sound. Did she get rolled over by a bus? Her body ached. She was thirsty and getting hot...she had to turn the AC up and all she had to do was open her eyes. The last sentence she caught as she was coming more to her senses. A male voice and that was when adrenaline kicked in, system on alert she shot up, inhaling fast, eyes wide and panicked, she noticed that two pairs of eyes were glued to her. The recognition came, knowing them from the bar, she reached for her gun on the side table as well as her blade and pointed.

It was hard trying to be the hunter she was when the room suddenly spun and her legs gave out as if she were on a tilt a whirl. Feeling hands helping from hitting the floor, she looked up into the face of the guy. Once he settled her on the floor safely and her back against the mattress she forgot about the weapons at the rise of bile in her throat. A trash can made it to her and she vomited, her stomach tightening and convulsing as liquor was removed from her system mingling with blood. "Fuck," Alex cursed, wiping her mouth and her head rested back. Eyes meeting the man's and the red headed female she couldn't believe how weak she felt.

The conclusion she had come to now that it was before her after the situation vaguely being remembered, these must be the backup that Maxwell had gotten her. Both faces started to stretch and squish together, her hands going to her eyes to cover them. Concentrating on breathing she hated that hunters had to see her like this. What happened to her? She was perfectly fine earlier and now she found herself in a room of circus mirrored illusions. The sensation settling she removed her hands and saw them kneeling before her, the red head with something in her hands being put together.

"Not my best of introductions," she tried to joke. "I'm Alex-" the male cut her off finishing her name and she squinted her eyes, flicking from one to the other. "Do I know you? And while you answer can you please turn up the AC. It must be 100 and something degrees in here, it's fucking unbearable."

Von had a metal tin in one hand and a bottle of something that looked like foggy tea in the other. Placing down the tin after taking two capsules out of it she shook the bottle until the contents were frothy. "Take these and drink them down with this," she instructed.

Dean watched, intrigued and impressed that Von had something that could help Alex with her affliction. The red head always was a smart cookie, a smart-sexy cookie. "Don't you remember 'bout nine years back we all lived under the same roof for a couple months?" Dean asked, leaning over the old AC unit to fiddle with the dial, the air started to flow but it looked like it would take a couple minutes for it to cool down. Walking back over to the women, "I'm Dean and that's Von," he introduced them nodding his head towards the green eyes that met his.

There was a good chance that Alex would remember who they were, they hadn't formed any solid friendships with each other back then but Dean remembered how she would go on about wanting to hunt, she thought she was ready to go out there on her own and fight the evil that lurked in every dark corner. She didn't think it was fair that Bobby didn't want her out there hunting when Sam was the same age and he could. She just didn't understand how it worked in Dean's family, Sam was never allowed to hunt on his own, and by the time their dad might have got him started on some small solo hunts he took off for college. For nearly three years they left him alone to live his normal life until Dean pulled him back into hunting, because dad went missing, and then Jess died. Sam couldn't go back after that, he was so much like their father when the want for revenge took over his every thought.

"I need to get some things from the trunk." Von stood, a solemn expression of sympathy on her face was directed towards Dean as she passed him and left the room to go to her car. Casually walking to the '72 Nova parked outside of her room Von popped the trunk and rummaged through the contents, lifting up a hidden panel that Bobby suggested she install years before to hide her weapons cache. Turning on a dime Von had her knife in hand; taken from the sheath at her back, arching her arm she drove the tip of the silver blade into the succubus's stomach. "Were you planning on skulking outside all fucking night?"

The succubus hissed and shoved Von against the open trunk, but not before Von grabbed onto the creature's dress using her weight to pull the two of them along the car and almost down to the pavement. "You'll pay for interrupting meeeee," she growled, slashing out with her long nails towards Von's face.

Von blocked with her knife but the woman's reach caught her arm, shaving off a couple layers of skin, returning a growl Von raised her boot and bracing against the car kicked the succubus off of her. But the monster was far from done with the hunter and Von wasn't about to let her get away again. Again the succubus launched herself at Von and the two were locked in combat, but the monster was stronger, with her sinewy hand around Von's gasping throat she strained the red head's body against the hood of the Nova as she glared down at her. Von refused to give an inch, even while the succubus squeezed the life out of her she struggled to land a wound with her knife that she had miraculously been able to hang onto. Somehow the knife lodged itself into the succubus' stomach without Von knowing how she did it because her arms were too heavy to move.

She screamed and Von almost slipped out of her grip when she heard Dean yelling behind her. The monster took one last look at her as she pulled the knife out and spat in Von's face. Von gave a startled yell and dropped to her knees, her hands clasping her face while the succubus's saliva burned into her eyes. Dean ran around the car about to go after the succubus but she was too far off, kneeling next to Von instead he helped her up and they walked, Von stumbling, to his room where he ran cold water and tried to flush her eyes out. Her fingers were digging into her knees to keep her hands from rubbing at her eyes while Dean gingerly forced them open to assess the damage and drip clean water in them. The white surrounding her vivid green iris was completely blood shot and her pupils were showing that she couldn't properly focus.

"Hang on," he told her and quickly left the room to grab his bag, unzipping a first-aid kit and taking out a saline bottle he returned to find Von shaking from trying so hard to maintain composure.

"I wanna rip my eyes out!" she yelled.

"Can't have you doing that, here." He tilted her head back with the cup of the bottle against her eye. "Open your eye, open it Von," he ordered. Jaw clenching her body jerked when the saline met her exposed eye, she tried but could only stand a few seconds of it and the other eye wasn't much better and she gasped from the pain. Unable to do anything more Dean wrapped up Von's eyes and led her out to sit in a chair by the small table in front of the window. "We're going to find that bitch and kill her," Dean promised, setting the saline bottle down on the table across from Von.

He took a moment to check up on Alex when Von replied, "I don't think there's going to be a 'we'." Dean felt the tension in her voice, he wanted to say that wasn't true but she stopped him before he started. "She spat in my eyes, Dean! I've been infected." The anger in her voice almost felt physical as it filled the room and Dean's head jerked to the lamp that started flickering, some relief coming to him when it stopped but only just a touch. Von looked at Dean though he knew she couldn't really see him.

"What do we do then?" he asked.

"There's a black case in my duffle, bring it to me."

_Well, well, well..._

She ignored Von leaving as she stared at Dean with incredulity and when he finally left as well, Alex managed to pick herself up off the floor and on the bed. It was suffocating. Hearing those names again after so many years brought back memory after crashing memory. Bickering with Dean over the smallest things mainly because he got under her skin. Back then she was naive and vulnerable and that left her the easy target for jokes to be played on her be the Winchester. Her fists tightened and loosened as her breathing began to slow down once more. Alex even remembered Von as clear as day, the silent red head that had Sam staring at her and following. She knew very well that Dean had a thing for both girls because they were girls. Since then Alex had grown up, albeit they seemed to be taller than she remembered.

Hand reaching up to run through her hair she flicked her blue orbs to the door when Dean came back with Von beaten up. Cleaning her up and something about infection had her wanting to stand up and go back to her room. She needed to be alone. If they were both infected...

_Feeling like using me again?_

That made her freeze on her feet. Staring into space at the realization that she was thinking about that and that she shouldn't. Dean checked on her and helped Von, brought her what she asked for and here Alex was wondering what to do. The instincts from back then were humming through all nerves, saying to run and never come back. Get as far away from these two as possible because it would only lead to chaos and fighting and memories. But there was a job to do, despite the nasty fallout she had with Bobby and Von.

It happened as fast as she finished her thought process, coming back to the room and what was going on, her body was shaking slightly as if cold. Walking slowly to where they were in the bathroom, she managed to lean against the doorjamb. Watching as Von struggled, Alex did not envy the way she was infected but there was a question she was dying to ask. The words from when she was unconscious came back to her in sentences rather than one word at a time and she opened her mouth. She paused at the sight of herself in the mirror. Dark circles under her eyes, pale skin and her eyes looked drained and almost grey rather than blue. The area around the patch she had put on her neck was reddened with her veins popping out and riding down to her clavicle when she moved her hair. Continuing up part of her face once the strands were removed were they finally visible.

_We look like death._

Turning away, limbs shaking more as she returned to the bed and sat down. "What's in the case?" she finally asked.

Dean found the case, it stood out from everything else in her bag and he was about to bring it over to her when she asked him to bring the whole bag as well. Setting it down on the table one next to the other he watched Von reach into her bag to grab the tin with the pills she had given to Alex along with the other items needed to make the foggy tea. All while she had the blindfold on like she knew exactly where everything was, she certainly had sharp senses.

"More medicine, I'm probably going to need it soon enough but I'm going to try to stop it from getting any worse." She shook the bottle until the contents were frothy and then chugged down the entire bottle after the pills. Von doubted it would do much good, there was no cure for Succubus venom but she had to try what she could so that she wasn't completely useless on the hunt. Unlike Alex who was going to have to sit this one out.

"How is any of it going to stop you from becoming a raging nymphomaniac?" Dean raised a curious eyebrow towards the red head. There was no antidote, any second or hour from now Von wasn't going to be able to stop herself from jumping his bones, she'd have a hell of a time trying to find him though if she couldn't see.

_Wouldn't that be fun_, he thought wryly at the image of Von chasing him around the room, smacking into, bumping and knocking everything down in her way.

"It probably won't," Von replied bluntly as she played with a hair elastic on her wrist.

"Oh. That's great." Dean tried with sarcasm but ended up calling it as it was. "What the hell then, I can't be babysitting you two when I need to go out and gank the monster." He scratched the top of his head and groaned, this job was getting to be a big thorn in his side.

"I'll manage it," Von defended and flicked the elastic at Dean pegging him in the chest, "and I have more senses than most."


	4. Throw And Don't Miss

Later in the evening resulted in research and more meds for Alex though nothing was making her any better she wasn't getting any worse. Von had fallen asleep in her seat at the table and Dean was keeping watch on the two when he had to get up to take care of digestive business. Splashing cold water on his face Dean leaned against the sink, every time he closed his eyes there it was, Hell, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't scrub the images from his mind. Even thinking about women or any of the old tricks to get his mind away from horrible thoughts were no use. He would think about fucking and he would think about slicing and then...Hearing Alex's voice coming from the main room he exited the bathroom, a questioning glance had his gaze following her's to Von.

The bandages were off her eyes as if nothing had ever happened but what was more shocking was the needle she was holding in her arm with the plunger pushed down under her thumb. When Dean inched closer he could see by the light in the room the discoloration of the crook of her elbow, the tiny dots of purple from previous needle usage, they looked relatively old but they would never really go away. "So you've done this before?" he asked, suddenly seeing her in a completely different way. The troubled girl that was way more fucked up than he was allowed to know about.

"You could say that." Von slowly pulled the needle out and placed in on the open case which was full of other needles and a few bottles that looked like she had stolen from a hospital. Placing a cotton swab on small puncture wound she applied a piece of tape over it, glossy eyes looked up at Dean and he knew the infection had taken over because he could see the fire of lust burning in her eyes.

"What did you just shoot up?"

"Nembutal." Von rubbed her eyes and blinked rapidly.

Dean stared at her, it sounded familiar but he was waiting for her to explain. When it looked like the drug was really starting to take affect he asked, "How much did you take?"

"Enough to keep me from raping you to death," Von replied bluntly.

Alex gave a small snicker, the smile trying to be fought and her eyes fluttered. Bone weary, she was pumped full of medicine that Von had given her and her veins were now visible along her chest and wrists to her elbows. Her lips had lost their color and were close to turning a pale blue. The venom was attacking her system and she didn't know why. While Von was reacting to it with thoughts of lust, Alex began to wish she had that end of the stick than this. Swallowing, sitting with her feet planted on the floor she watched the two interact. Kind of like old times only it was like watching a red headed version of herself from the past. "You might want to check out the old factory a couple blocks from here. I never managed to get there yet," her voice came out rough and dry.

_You're scaring me Alex. What if they don't kill the bitch in time? We are deteriorating. We could die and we don't know why our body is rejecting this._

"Ever think it's because of you?" she muttered softly under her breath, just enough that they couldn't hear or so she thought. Recovering she hated seeing the brief look that Dean had in his eyes but there was also something akin to destruction, torment...a haunted mist in those green orbs. "Anything I can do here while you two are out an about saving the day? I don't like being useless and I very rarely am."

_Like look for something to stop us from dying!_

"Don't die before we kill it," was all that Dean said as he grabbed his brown leather jacket and followed Von out into the dark of night.

This wasn't going at all how he had planned, they were supposed to swoop in gank the creature and go find Sam. At least he was going to go find Sam, Von could do whatever she wanted she wasn't tied to this and had no obligation to him whatever happened between them happened a long time ago. It was Bobby's cunning that had put the two together, and seeing what had been done to Von maybe it was a good thing that Dean was around to help her. He just hoped they could kill the succubus in time before anything else happened. Von set her gun down in the trunk of her car and locked it closed, she thought that if the nembutal wore off before Dean could do anything about it that she would use her gun to coerce Dean into having sex with her. It twisted her stomach at the images and emotions that were blossoming in her, violating her to the very core. She hated that she could not control these sensations and she feared what would happen if the drug wore off faster than she could anticipate.

"You gonna be good to handle this?" Dean queried.

Right now Von was more of a liability than an asset to him. Even if the drug was dulling her sex drive it was dulling everything else, he could tell by the fogged over look in her eyes and the way she tried to hide how off her equilibrium was. Von held out her hand, in it a small black nylon case similar to the larger one that carried her collection of sedatives and needles. "I can function better than most with this in my system, most other people even you would probably be on the floor by now. This is the safety net."

Opening the case Dean could see two needles, already pre-filled with what he assumed Von had already taken. Dean wasn't a doctor but he was sure that this amount could kill a person, a normal person at least, not Von who had more than likely built up an immunity to it. For a minute he lost focus on the task at hand and began to wonder what had happened to her that made her go down that hole. It wasn't an easy one to get out of, especially when most barbiturates were extremely addictive. Von just didn't seem like the type to be an addict, or by the healed up old purple dots on her arm, an ex-addict.

"Right now, it's between the drug and what's left of my willpower that's keeping me from…" A barrage of images and carnal desire flooded into her. She wondered about the sensations of his lips against her, the salty taste of his body on her tongue. How she would tear away his clothes to claw and bite into his skin, their hips grinding forcefully against his will. The idea seemed ridiculous that Von would ever be able to overpower Dean without the aid of narcotics to weaken him, but with the succubus's venom lending her strength whatever muscle Dean had on his side would mean nothing. Von wondered if all the women under the succubus's sway thought of raping their intended victims or if they only hungered for the pure joys of sex as they slowly killed the men that fell for them.

"This could kill you." Dean's brow furrowed with concern the lines deepening what Von gave no answer. Instead she slung a leather bag over her shoulder and took the back of his hand and turned it palm upwards. "Hey-!" instinctively he pulled back but Von wouldn't let him go, Dean still held his distance even though she made no other move to hurt him. Instead she pulled out a ballpoint pen from her jacket pocket and started to draw on his wrist, a strange circular sigil with a weird scribbling of stars and other wiggly lines that Dean didn't recognize. "What're..." he trailed off when she dropped his hand suddenly and his face screwed up in confusion he could read some of the emotions on her face before she lowered her gaze and refused to meet him in the eyes.

There was a gap of strained silence between them before Von turned and began walking down the street towards the factory and with any luck to the succubus. Touching him, especially skin to skin contact had been a bad idea. She wasn't a stranger to the blood soaked images that would replace Dean's normal visage from time to time; she knew they eventually went away so she did her best to ignore them. But the transmission of emotions was a much more difficult thing to ignore, she knew it was bad, that Dean had experienced unspeakable horrors. He was fighting it with all he had while maintaining a calm demeanor and an unshakable resolve, it was a miracle that he wasn't a quivering pile of guano, or that he hadn't gone full psycho.

Dean caught her up and was about to grab her arm when he thought better of it. "Okay, what did you just doodle-bear on my arm?"

"It's protection against the succubus," she answered flatly.

"Why didn't you ink yourself up then?" He pulled the cuff back on his jacket to see the blue mark. He had never heard of anything that could protect against a succubus, you just had to not be stupid enough to get bitten by one and you were fine.

"It only works on men. And I would have put it on you sooner but I didn't think this was going to be such a pain, this succubus is very strong," Von explained and had to stop when a wave of wet heat coiled into her stomach and down into her groin.

Leaning against the side of an office building that lead into an alley she held her breath to stop any noise from escaping her mouth. Dean stood a little distance away to keep an eye out around them but also a clear eye on Von as well, she was fighting hard to maintain control over her own body but Dean had his doubts. Clenching her jaw Von dug her nails into the palms of her hands, the nembutal was numbing the pain so Von dug her nails in further until she felt the sharp pinch of breaking skin. Sucking in a hard breath through her nose she relaxed her fists, letting the pain she had inflicted on herself do some of the fighting for her. She could feel Dean's eyes on her and felt how unsettled he was by the expression on her face.

"I'll be the bait." She left the wall hands shaking a bit from what she had done to them. "It's the best plan, she'll be expecting me to show up, if she can't see you she won't be able to sense you with the sigil on your arm. And if she does the poison won't affect you and neither will any of her other tricks," Von said in earnest. Dean was arguing with her, it was a good plan but he didn't like the idea of putting Von at further risk, there was nothing to protect her and not only would she be fighting with the succubus but also with herself. She didn't care that Dean didn't like the idea, it was what they were going to do.

888

Glaring at the door when they left she mimicked him silently, leaning over and bending in half, letting her hair hang between her legs as well as her arms. This position was surprisingly comfort, no nausea, no dizziness and definitely made her feel like a dork. She was like this for some time until she thought she heard someone enter the room. The heavy footsteps indicated it was Dean instead of Von. Why would Dean be back and not her? Did something go wrong? They weren't gone for very long. And it was like they were both ignoring her anyways so why would he come back and stand next to her from the shadow she saw? A hand placed onto her back as if trying to soothe and she groaned. "Dean, what the fuck are you doing? Stop touching me and go."

The hand didn't stop, grew insistent before gripping her shoulder. Alex was not going to have it, sitting up slowly she met the familiar green orbs but it was not Dean. In fact it could have been very close to Dean but it wasn't. It was someone else. Bringing her fist up she reacted by punching what was at eye level being his groin and stood, shakily she attempted to run to the door, she had to get to her room and get her stuff. She had to. Alex pulled it open and was instantly pushed down the hall. Fighting to stand she knew he was playing with her, once she opened her door and got to her duffel she was finding it hard to breathe. "Oh Alex..." Turning to face him, her world changing from the motel room to dark caves with very little light and the grin decorating his face sent chills down her spine. Coming back to the motel room she swallowed. "I've finally found you. I knew you weren't dead."

Fumbling with her hands on her desk she found her cell phone and made it inside the bathroom. Locking herself inside her legs couldn't hold and she slid to the floor, her body lying on the tiles as she stared at the ceiling, a numb ringing in her ears and taking up the void around her. Screams made her jump as they grew, deafening and in pain. Male, female...not even human. A hand on her forehead made her flinch and she saw the man above, kneeling before her, and petting through her hair. How did he get inside? She had locked the door and it was still shut. What was he and why was he here?

"You don't remember me do you? Shame. Although this reaction from you is strangely more arousing and fun than the other I was anticipating. Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Leon. Best way to remember it is it starts with an L," he paused as he brought his face closer into her neck where the succubus had bitten her. "And I'm a whole lot of fun." Teeth and pain, she tried to fight him off but she was too weak. One moment he was there and the next he wasn't. Lying there alone she could feel the world wanting to slip away. "Soon you will be back with me my dear sweet Alex," the whispered words floated in the air. Alex's breathing went shallow and eyes half lidded.

_Stay with me Alex. Stay! Don't you dare close your eyes! Come on fucking hunters. Hurrying your asses up! No! Alex! Keep them open! ALEX!_

888

"What is it?" Dean lowered his voice as he came up beside Von reaching around his back to his gun, finding the familiar weight in his hand comforting. Von had stopped walking without a word turning back the way they had come as if she was listening to something that Dean could not hear. Dean strained his hearing but nothing was coming to his ears except the faint wind rustling through the dying leaves.

"I don't know," she replied quietly, continuing to listen but there was nothing, just the tiniest niggling feeling that Alex shouldn't have been left alone because she might be in trouble. Squeezing her wrist in her hand, she stepped away from Dean. "We have to hurry."

Von's pace quickened and she was almost running by the time they reached the factory. Dean had no idea what had gotten into her, he was just glad they had a plan as he took off around the back of the building while Von went right through the front door. She knew the kind of welcome she was expecting; two women were waiting for her and escorted her into the main assembly room of the building.

The succubus was there appearing to be in a state of rest on the bed with a male. "So good of you to come," the creature purred at her as she rolled onto her side and onto her feet to greet Von.

The red head willed herself not to flinch or cringe under the inappropriate attentions of the two women on either side of her as they petted and stroked her. They were both obviously pleased with whatever Von had the potential to offer. And while Von was as straight as an arrow her emotions were waging war with each other as impulse overrode reason. She was briefly distracted by the man on the bed who was now sitting on the edge of the mattress watching her intently while another woman stood in front of him with eyes glassed over with lust. The succubus smiled as she approached Von while she was distracted by the male undressing the other woman.

"Don't worry, you'll have your turn with him." She smoothed her hands up Von's abdomen over the sides of her breasts and to the arms of her jacket, pushing the item of clothing off for it to fall unheeded on the floor. "You escaped from your friends?" The succubus drew closer while every inch of Von tightened.

Swallowing her heart back down into her chest Von replied, "Yes, she's dying and he's not that smart."

The monster stared at her with normal human eyes that narrowed with suspicion. "Why didn't you fuck him?"

"He was trying to kill me, I had to get away," she lied. Von's held her gaze. Behind the succubus Von could see all the women aside from the two that were flanking her, most of them were touching themselves, each other, or watching with perverse attention. The air stunk of sweat, sex and frustration, why were all the women here instead of out gathering energy for their master? "Not letting anyone out tonight?" Von questioned innocently while the succubus began to explore her body with her hands finding her way to Von's breasts. Her breathing became hard, muscles tensing with the urge to slap the woman but that began to ease away as the drug left her system a little more and the need to give in became stronger.

"The party's inside tonight. Armand is here to tend to the women's needs." The succubus turned her gaze fondly to the man who now had the woman laying naked on the bed underneath him, her thighs wrapped tight around his hips a sharp sigh leaving her lips as he entered into her. Realization and panic awakened in Von, the man on the bed was not human, he was the male counterpart to the creature before her. An incubus. The situation was far more dire than they had anticipated. The succubus was here to start a family after all, she was capturing the females in order to have the incubus impregnate them.

Von backed up against the women's arms with the temporary sobriety she was experiencing. But the succubus' suspicions rose higher and she grabbed Von's arms and pulled her close, "Why are you resisting?" she kissed against the red head's skin. "I should have known, a bite is always better."

888

They could tell where she was held up. There were orders to bring the brunette back to the factory where they all resided, where he resided. Alyssa and Nicki strode in to the motel, recognizing the scents of former guests to the red head before stopping at the sight of two room doors wide open. Dividing they searched both rooms, Alyssa coming to the locked bathroom door she inhaled and released a low hiss letting Nicki know her findings. When she was at her side they took to trying to get the door to open, finally breaking it from its hinges and pulling the plank off to the side of the room, they took in the deathly appearance of their target. Confusion overrode everything. "Is she dead?" Nicki asked.

Alyssa shook her head and reached down to pick her up into her arms. "He won't be too happy but maybe there is still time."

Turning they exited the establishment, taking to the shadows even though no one was out of the bar or their homes to really do anything if they saw them. Arriving at the factory Nicki opened the door and they entered. The feel and sound of sex in the air making their knees weaken and breathing pick up but they still had a duty to do. Bringing Alex up to their mother handling the red head, they bowed their heads and smiled. "Here she is. Just as you asked."

888

Dean pressed his back against the wall after scaling the last flight of stairs. There was a ledge leading out to a catwalk that ran above the main assembly room, which gave him the perfect vantage point. The situation was not looking to be in Von's favor and when the sounds of a woman in the throes of passion came to his ears Dean turned his head around the corner again, peeking down only to make out the arching back and thrusting hips of a man. Swallowing the disgusted look on his face and repressing the feeling to wash his eyes out with bleach he opened the pouch that Von had given him. He never looked into it before now and she gave no instructions on what he was supposed to do with it. Reaching inside he pulled out a strange round object that resembled a marble with an injection of dark orange inside of it, several more were in the bag along with a sheet of folded paper.

Unfolding the note it simple read, 'throw and don't miss'. "That's really helpful," Dean grumbled and stuffed the note back into the bag and tightened the strings. Giving a huff Dean's head jerked to the right at the sounds of footsteps on the catwalk, he had caught the attention of a woman who was smiling wildly at him. "Shit." He really thought he had picked out the best spot to gain the advantage and now he had to deal with this nympho whack job that was raping him with her eyes. Just as he heard Von yell Alex's name in surprise the woman charged towards Dean at the distraction, arms outreached and tits swinging free in the breeze.

"Fuck me!" she shrieked the demand and coughed, gagging on her own lungs when Dean forced his boot into her chest.

"Not today sister," Dean replied gruffly grabbing the back of her head and slamming her face down into the handrail knocking her out cold. The short fight did not go unheeded, after a scream from below all eyes were on Dean. "Crap."

888

The Incubus was done with the woman, pushing her off the bed in a sweaty heap he wiped himself off on the white sheets and walked towards his partner that was holding the red head. The succubus had Von's head craned back and off to the side exposing her petal white neck and her grip was firm against the red head's struggling, she even found it amusing and began to laugh. "Oh Armand is going to have so much fun with you, so feisty," she chuckled.

Von sneered at the monster and wondered what was taking Dean so long when three women entered and stopped before the succubus, the one in the middle appearing as if she was about to drop dead. "Alex!"

Von was kept from going to the brunette's aid feeling several hairs being pulled from her head while she gagged against the strain on her neck. A ruckus from above had everyone's eyes on a man fighting one of the infected women, Von knew it was Dean and she was beginning to fear that this plan had gone completely south. Unfortunately, she didn't have long to think about it before the succubus' teeth were sinking into her neck, breaking through skin and spilling blood. The pain was excruciating. A strange sensation snapped through Von's body like a lightning stroke and the pressure of the succubus' mouth and body against her were gone, the last thing she heard was a scream before she fell unconscious to the floor.

Alex began to come to when someone screamed her name. Fluttering her lids she started to focus on the women holding her, turning her head a bit she saw someone above in a window before turning further to capture the sight of a buck naked man, Von on the floor and another whatever was screaming. Feeling of being handled over and watching as the male took her into his arms she brought her hands up to attempt at pushing him away. "Von..." she whispered, swallowing and shaking her head slowly. Vertigo and her hands stopped fighting, grabbing hold of the man as tight as she could to stop the world from spinning. "Put me down." Her body being set upon a bed and she glared at the man, despite the knowledge that the women that had her before were now taking care of whoever was on the roof. "Don't touch me or I'm going to tear you apart."

888

They ran up towards the roof, shrieks that made the glass shake at seeing their fallen sister. Alyssa and Nicki separated to try and give the intruder a hard time at choosing. When Nicki got too cocky and jumped onto him, knocking him to the ground with her straddling, Alyssa knew that it was sloppy. The minute Nicki was dispatched and he was standing once more, she took from the shadows and pushed him onto the glass, into the building and down. There would be no killing him. Alyssa glanced over below to find their leader holding him by the neck safely from the concrete. Smirking she left the dead body of her sister and the unconscious one to head back.

"Claudia, stop your incessant shrieking," Armand demanded cooly while he held Dean at arm's length.

The succubus had not stopped screaming since she had bitten Von and left the red to bleed out on the concrete floor. Removing her hands from her face she wailed as tears of blood trailed down her cheeks, "She did this to me!"

Armand's eyes widened and he walked over to Von's unconscious form and stared down at her, "How fascinating." He brought Dean closer staring into his wide green orbs. "What is she?" he questioned.

"Kl-...aarhhmhh, sllk fekg ahhnrhhcsss-" Dean choked and grasped the incubus's wrist with both hands, his knuckles turning bone white from the effort and his nails digging and scraping at the monster's skin. The incubus's strength was incredible, if he was squeezing Dean's throat any harder he could easily snap his neck and yet he carried the hunter around as if he were made of a sack of feathers.

"I'm sorry?" Armand tilted his head and dropped Dean to fall onto his knees gasping for breath, tentatively touching his fingertips to his throat and glaring up with watering eyes.

"I said, Claudia, Armand? Sounds like I'm in a fucking Anne Rice novel," the gravel of his voice was especially rocky on his strained windpipe.

Stooping down the incubus picked him up by the scruff of his jacket, "I asked you what she was, you're a hunter a one with reputation and that one over there is Alex Tatiani someone else with a very special reputation, but whose the red head and how did she harm my beautiful Claudia, how was she able to send her through the air?"

Dean couldn't answer even if he wanted to, which he didn't, he wasn't sure what had even happened. Only that the bitch had bitten Von and that caused her to freak out and start screaming, his attention had been on fighting the infected woman on the catwalk. Seeing that he would get no answer from the hunter and that in fact he seemed almost completely clueless on the matter he lost his patience and threw Dean against a steel beam and unable to control his mode of flight Dean's head hit the solid obstacle and he blacked out before he hit the ground in a heap.

"Not much truth in the reputation," the incubus turned while some of the infected carried Dean off first and then Von whose freckles stood out stark against her pale features. "I'm hoping what I've heard about you Alex isn't just a rumor, I'm excited about the possibilities and the doors you will open for our kind."

"And what exactly have you heard about me huh?" Alex nearly growled, searching past all the haze to try and find that part that had suddenly become quiet.

She had to find it to draw on, something to get her out of this mess and give the others some time to get back up and fight. Hitting the block in her mind she prodded, hearing a muffled voice but the venom inside was making it so she couldn't make out what was being said. Alex attempted at backing up on the bed to get away as the Incubus came closer and she did not want to find out what he meant by the doors she will open for them. Sounded like some sick porno or whatever. Another prod and she could feel a tiny crack through it all and a sharp inhale escaped when it came, her pupils spread out like tendrils ever so slightly into the rest of her eyes as she sent out the surge. Hitting the Incubus with a punch and only seeing him falter for a second, before taking what little she had left before it sucked back in to keep the venom at bay for longer.

The incubus chuckled and rubbed his hand down his chest, "Weak as a kitten, aren't you lovely? But I suppose your other half is the only thing that's keeping you from dying right now." He walked around the bed and sat on the edge. "Not many become sick and those that do die within seconds. But you're not like all those other people are you, Alex?" Armand wrapped his slender fingers around her ankle and pulled her closer, a smile widened on his full lips when she tried to struggle. "Now, now, precious, you'll exhaust yourself. Just close your eyes and it will all be over soon."

Alex actually felt panic, her hands becoming weak once again and she put them on his bare chest to push him away. _VON! DEAN!_ Watching with wide eyes as he removed a blade from underneath the pillow she actually screamed, her heart racing, her vision beginning to blur. The venom was continuing to take hold regardless of what she did. The incubus lifted her shirt and slowly teased the blade along her skin. "HELP!"

"Shhh, you're just making me excited, wouldn't want my hand to shake while I'm doing this, might knick something important." He cupped her cheek, tickling the knife around her belly button. "Your body isn't going to be any good for a baby if you're dying, best to take the goods and put them into someone healthy. I'm sure you could agree and even if you don't there's not much you're going to be able to do about it. Those friends of yours are going to be more busy dealing with each other than worrying about you."

Distraction. Distraction. Alex was trying to think of a way to distract him, give her time. She knew that Von and Dean had to be doing something, and she was getting tired of hearing him talk. The fear being pushed back a bit she found whatever amount of personal body strength she could muster and flipped them where she was on top and her hand was on his wrist holding the blade. "You are deranged as the bitches you have been making a family with." The world spun. Blinking several times she got it right. Only one way she was going to get out of this..."They are not my friends and you are not going to make a baby from my body parts."

Bringing her elbow down it connected with his goods. The one place, man or supernatural thing where they were still vulnerable. Alex removed herself from him, knowing she had little amount of time. She was dying and this spurt of energy was her last before she finally collapsed into oblivion. Knowing the direction the others had been taken to, she began to run albeit like a newborn fowl, before she turned to face the Incubus she knew would be there. Time to fight. Then she could die, only if he went first.

888

Dean came to, holding a hand to his pounding head he searched his surroundings finding that he was in an office that had been refashioned to be more like a jail cell. Then he saw Von lying not too far away, he could smell the blood on her as he crawled closer to make sure she was still alive. Touching her shoulder she stirred and her eyes flickered open in confusion until they landed on Dean, her heart raced at the sight of him. He reached to inspect her neck and once his fingers brushed her skin Von grabbed his arm and pounced on him, fingers working nimbly to tear open the layers of shirts he wore.

"Von," Dean threw her off, "you gotta fight this." He swallowed the ache in his throat and slowly, warily got to his feet while Von watched him with hungry, lustful eyes.

Her body ached and burned with carnal need, she saw his lips move but she did not hear what he said, instead she took it as an invitation to lunge after him. The move landed them both on the ground and Dean struggled against Von's newfound strength, growling angrily Von reared back and slapped Dean hard across the face which made his already aching head throb painfully and threaten to pull him under again. Vision blurring in and out he felt his belt being worked on, more quickly than he would have liked. Button undone, zipper down, Dean could feel Von's hand teasing between the layer of denim and his boxers.

"You don't wanna do this," he told her but she didn't listen.

Von flinched and jerked her hand away, keeping both on either side of Dean as she stared at him, then slowly her head drooped down to the see the needle sticking out of her thigh with Dean's thumb firmly down on the plunger. Sliding off to the side Von curled in on herself with a hurt pout on her lips which ignoring the current circumstances Dean might have found cute. Instead he was trying to keep his boot from landing in her stomach, and that was the nicest thing he thought about doing to her. He knew she couldn't control it, some part of him completely understood that, but what she was about to do to him, not just slapping him, it made him...

Turning away from her pleading face Dean directed his fury on the door, throwing himself continuously into it. Bruises were forming on his shoulder before he felt it start to give way and with one final go the doorjamb splintered enough for the locks to become useless. "I'll come back," he promised Von who was now lying unconscious on the floor, pausing a moment at her sleeping form Dean hurried from the room.

Someone had to have heard the commotion of his escape, he had to move fast and find out where Alex was. Racing down a corridor Dean only had his instincts as his guide, not knowing where he had come from he made a left and then a right until something became a little more familiar and he thought he saw Alex being backed up into a wall. Reaching around for the bag slung across his shoulder he tore at the knot that cinched the bag closed, reaching inside he pulled out one of the strange orbs.

_Throw, and don't miss._

The words in Von's voice entered his head as if she were right there. When the incubus came into sight Dean cranked back his arm and threw the glass ball towards the creature whose eyes were all for the brunette. The orb struck him, the delicate glass breaking open and a fine liquid splurted from the object and in less than a second after the orange filament had dissolved the incubus was set alight, shrieking in horror and clawing at itself in an attempt to put out the flames. Dean grabbed Alex and pulled her to him as they watched the incubus flail and run, the women around him screaming and trying to find water to douse him with. The succubus set upon them both with several of the women and Dean had no choice but to use another of the flammable orbs, risking the lives of the human victims when he tossed the ball at the succubus. She dodged it with a hiss and it shattered useless to the ground behind her but when one of the woman stepped on the shards and the liquid made contact with her skin her foot was set ablaze in an instant.

"Damn it." Dean pulled out his gun with his left hand and reached into the bag with his right, kneecapping another woman before the succubus was too close for him to be able to do anything about it other than smashing the strange marble between her face and his hand. The affect as before was instantaneous, the succubus smacked and swiped at her flaming face while Dean was set on trying to stamp the flames cooking the skin on his hand. Pulling his jacket down around his arm he attempted to smother the fire out when his flask of holy water clattered to the concrete floor. "Fuck!" he screamed and then he just screamed without any intelligible thought attached to it besides sheer pain.

Grabbing the flask it was Alex with one last effort that helped him unscrew the cap allowing him to pour the contents onto his hand and quench the flames. Holding his arm to his chest the whole limb shook but he had to hold it away at the smell that came to his nose, he had smelled his flesh cooking off his bones before, it was something he never wanted to smell again. Alex fell to her hands and knees, gasping as she watched her veins begin to disappear slowly the feeling of burning in them was not lost on her as the succubus was burning as well. The venom was being removed from her system and she started to laugh when the world no longer felt fuzzy, and her eyes focused on the carnage around them.

She smiled and rolled over onto her back on the concrete floor of the warehouse, still laughing even when the voice came back in her head, even when she no longer felt sick and back to herself the more she laid there. She knew Dean was looking at her like she was crazy but she didn't care. "Oh man...this never gets old. I love my job."


	5. Reunion Part 2

**Ekalaka, Montana  
5:20AM**

_You love your job? Really? And we almost died and you say that back there? You should be thanking the powers that be that your ass didn't get smoked like the rest of those bitches. What is wrong with you? Almost dying and you use me like a condom?! You want me gone and yet you did that! Not saying I am completely against it but doesn't that break the Alex Tatiani code of conduct? And don't think you are getting off on the whole getting bit in the first place. You are an idiot for letting that bitch get anywhere near you to do that kind of damage. Now you have to owe these fucking losers and if I was making the rules we would have ditched them the moment we arrived back here at the motel. Packed up, go to our car at the farmhouse you shut it in and go. This is bad news. See?_

Alex groaned as she finished dressing into a clean black tank top, jeans and her combat boots. Her wet brown hair off her left shoulder while packing up her duffel bag. Dean had carried Von back to the motel as they walked in silence and she hated that she was getting a non-stop lecture from her half inside. It was annoying and it could not be turned off. This would never be let go until she was away from the gang. Taking her cell phone she opened it and dialed Maxwell while she still had time before she had meet the firing squad. Now that job was done, she knew there had to be talking to ensue next. No escaping it. "I see you're alive," came the gruff voice.

"Yeah no thanks to your backup. What the hell were you thinking calling up Bobby?"

"Figured it out did ya? Well I'm not proud it either. Not my best moment groveling for help from the likes of him."

"I only figured it out not long ago, because the only person who knows these two is him. You don't even have them in your call box. Not that I'm not in some way grateful because otherwise I wouldn't be having this conversation with you..."

"You're welcome."

"Thanks."

"Alex, you are like the daughter I never wanted, and I say this because in some fucked up way I care. Don't trust them. They came from his side of things and whoever they are, they are mixed into what is going with the world right now. I have a hunt for you anyways so this will help ya get out fast. There is some kind of vortex or whatever southeast of you. Around the border of South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa. Vague but that is all I got kid."

She nodded with a sigh. "Thanks for the advice. I'll leave as soon as possible." Alex turned off her phone and pocketed it. Her eyes going to the bathroom as she remembered the one thing that haunted her about this hunt. The man named Leon. He seemed to have known her and he scared her, which was rare in her line of work. Problem was she couldn't tell if he was real or just a hallucination of the venom in her system, that made it worse. Making sure her Bowie was in her boot, a few other blades and guns on her person before putting on a gray plaid long sleeve button up, she shouldered her bag and headed out of her room and outside. Beginning her walk to the abandoned farmhouse she told Dean to meet at since the one thing that was clear in the look he had given her after the warehouse was she wasn't jumping out on them without some questions and answers. The abandoned farmhouse just on the skirts was secluded enough that there were no listening ears and where her beloved car was. A quick getaway rather than her two legs.

Arriving after a while of walking she put the bag in the trunk before walking around to lean against the hood of car. _Since when do you listen to someone giving you_ the look_?_

"Since that someone saved my life."

888

"Dean, stop it," Von warned as she tossed her duffle onto the bed of her weakly lit room and began to pack. He probably found it hilarious in teasing her but she wasn't amused, she just wanted to forget tonight ever happened, she was a better hunter than this, she wasn't weak and pathetic. It was difficult enough being in the room with him after what she wanted to do to him, after what she had done. And his constant advances were raking on her raw nerves. "What's wrong with you, you think this is funny you bastard?"

Angry tears were in her eyes as she swung around and faced him standing her ground while Dean stepped in front of her and took her wrist in his hand. Leaning in he kissed her softly on the lips, what was most shocking was she found herself kissing back. A sticky warmth covered her hand and trickled down her arm to dribble off her elbow, breaking the kiss Von looked down to find a heavy knife shoved hilt deep into Dean's abdomen with her hand fisted around the handle. Staggering back Von watched as Dean stumbled clutching at the blade before he fell to the carpet his body disappearing into the shadow of the room. Keenly aware that someone else was in the room Von turned to face a shadowy figure of a man outlined against the door frame he was leaning casually against.

"Why are you doing this?" she screamed with hot tears leaking down her pale freckled cheeks. "Why?!"

888

"Fuck," the curse exited Dean's mouth for the umpteenth time, this time as he applied burn ointment to his hand.

His entire palm was pinkish red and blistered as well as the lower half of his thumb, the first three fingers and his whole pinky. He supposed he should count his blessings that he hadn't lost the whole hand but he could already tell it was never going to heal properly, the limb would be mangled for the rest of his life. He wanted to yell at Von for not telling him that the things spontaneously ignited once they came into contact with skin but he had figured it out quickly enough when the funny glass ball broke against the incubus and torched him alive. It was his call to the smash the thing on the succubus' face without protection or getting any distance from her. The only one to blame for his burnt hand was him.

Taking a roll of gauze Dean began the slow and delicate process of wrapping his hand, cursing profusely as he did so. Next he grabbed a bottle of whiskey he had stowed in his bag and clamping the bottle between his thighs he unscrewed the cap, taking a good chug before doing the same with the bottle of Advil. Taking two pills he chased them down with another couple of gulps of whiskey. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand he set the bottle down on the nightstand, his eyes landing on Von who he had laid on the bed, he had checked her pulse minutes ago to make sure he hadn't killed her by injecting more nembutal into her system.

Checking again and finding her breathing Dean packed up his things and stowed them in the trunk of Von's Chevy Nova after finding her keys in her jacket pocket. He then went into her room, packed her things and then loaded Von into the back seat and tossed a wool blanket on her. Alex had agreed to meet with them at an old farmhouse so that was where Dean was headed to now, shifting the car into reverse he pulled out of the parking lot and down the road towards the edge of town. On his way there he called the local law enforcement, giving them an anonymous tip to check out the factory for all the missing women.

888

She didn't have to wait for too long to see a car come up the dirt path to where she was. Watching as Dean drove and no sign of Von meant she was in the backseat still out for the count. Alex waited till the car stopped and turned off till she pushed off from hers and crossed her arms. The kind of questions that were going to be thrown out she wasn't so sure, but she did know one thing and that was that despite Dean saved her life he had started the whole mess that was going on in the world. News had traveled fast about Wyoming when it had happened and then Hell was loose wherever she went. Hunters were pumping their blood and sweat into taming what was unleashed. Alex wanted to yell at Dean for that but she knew it was no use, what had passed had passed and she had dealt with the situation how she had to.

Once Dean was standing before her, Alex brought her hand up and ran it through her hair. "I guess I should say thanks for taking the job with me. Couldn't have done it without you and Von." Silence.

_Wow. Just wow. You know he's going to ask you about what the Incubus said right? Why a dying infected would be so important in the end. You could always tell him the truth and tell him about little ol' me._

The smile appeared in her mind and she almost found herself smiling that horrible expression as it wasn't meant to be lollipops and rainbows. Alex knew she had screwed up on this hunt, she had tapped into that part she had secured more than she should have and started to think she would rather have died than do it if she had the chance again. It was better than having it break free and destroy the world with the rest of the baddies. "Listen..." she began as Dean started to talk and she put her hands up to signal for him to continue, what she was going to say was that she had to get going, but she figured that wasn't going to happen just yet.

"Thanks for saving your ass you mean? You're welcome. I gotta admit it's surprising, guess you got your wish after all, I remember how obsessed you were with wanting to become a hunter."

Dean could recall exactly how determined Alex had been, how badly she wanted to learn how to hunt so she could go out and kill the big bad monsters that normal people couldn't believe in. It got in her head bad after him and Sam showed up with John, Sam was the same age and he knew how to field strip all their dad's guns, he was a master in hand to hand combat and an assortment of melee weapons. Dean didn't understand why anyone would willingly choose this life, you were either raised into it, or forced into it by tragedy or a driving need for vengeance, but you never went into it otherwise. You found out about this kind of life and the best option was to turn the other way and pretend nothing ever happened, keeping dumb could keep you safe. Not always, but that's what Dean chose to believe.

He knew Alex came from a bad home, otherwise she wouldn't have been at Bobby's, but that was no excuse to not try for a normal life. Hell, Dean didn't know why Bobby took her in in the first place. It made sense to take Von now that Dean knew she was a psychic, she could be useful and she had no other family to hold her back, she didn't have anyone plus she needed medical care. Though he didn't have any idea what they were Dean was sure Bobby had his reasons for taking Alex in. Whatever the case was Dean called bullshit when she said she loved the job, not to argue that she wasn't as messed in the head as the rest of the hunter community but she probably didn't know how to do anything else with her life now. If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with. The same could be applied to a job just like it could a person.

"You're lucky I was there to stop that incubus from knifing you, you must have really pissed him off for him to go after you like that instead of just letting you die from toxic shock. You always did have a habit of biting off more than you could chew," Dean laughed off what Alex said next. He was more concerned about finding Sam and getting Von back on her feet to do it now that this town's problem had been dealt with. Besides he wasn't in any position to lecture Alex on taking stupid risks when hunting, he had taken enough of them himself and even if he did have the patience to give her and earful he knew she wouldn't listen, he remembered that about her too. "Anyway, I'm sure we'd both like to get the hell out of here and never see each other again, I know how low Maxwell must have felt he stooped to have to call Bobby when none of his other contacts could come through."

Dean recognized the accusatory expression on Alex's face and he had gathered that Bobby and Maxwell weren't exactly friends, not after Wyoming. Dean didn't wait for Alex to leave, instead he returned to the Nova and soon found the old farmhouse in his rearview mirror. Maybe if things were different it would have been nice to see Alex again, but it only brought up a lot of sour memories that bogged down the ones that might have been good.

"Who the fuck does he think he is?!" Alex screamed once he was completely gone, thunder sounded above her and she looked up, anger broiling. "Laughing and talking down to me like that. He is the one who started the whole damn mess for the rest of us hunters and yeah he saved me but he has no idea."

_Um Alex._

Alex ignored and climbed into her car, starting it up and heading in the direction Maxwell had told her about, the thunder boomed again and little did she know that it was her causing it. "I hate hunters who get on their high horse and talk shit. Dean Winchester is an ass and he has no idea who he pissed off."

_Alex..._

The rain started instantly, coming down hard and yet she drove like it wasn't a problem. He made her sound like she was a petulant child when if he knew what she really was then he wouldn't be that way. Alex didn't care much for Maxwell but it made her mad when Dean spoke of him in that manner and he didn't even know him now. Hell, Maxwell only had a chance to run in with the Winchesters shortly after their dad died, and she knew the stories. When she looked in the rear view mirror she nearly crashed her car at the sight. Pulling over, she took in her surroundings and put her head in her hands. Her eyes had started to go, the rain was pounding and slowly began to come to a stop. Soon the sun was out from the freak storm. Removing her hands she stared at her reflection of her eyes.

_Interesting. You tap into me too much and this is what happens...looks like your emotions are tied with me now._

She wouldn't admit it to anyone but she was scared of that. The laughter echoing in her head making it worse. Dean always had a way of getting under her skin and he had back there. Alex pulled back out calmly onto the road once more, turning music on as Trent Reznor sang through the speakers.

_'Another day, some other way. But not another reason enough to continue. And now you're one of us, The wretched.'_

888

**Bozeman, Montana  
September 20, 2008  
6:43PM**

The water splashed in his face, hands bracing against the sink he had his eyes closed with his head down. Sam still held the lingering taste of Ruby's blood in his mouth from minutes ago. The rush he got, the heat...opening his eyes he stood straight and stared back into the familiar blue-green orbs. Shirtless and wearing his boxers, he ran his hand through his hair while the other shut off the flow of water. Another round of stress relief and the adrenaline coursing in his veins. Ruby ordered pizza so then he could get energy from human food as well. The more he consumed of both the stronger he was becoming. Goosebumps raced across his bare torso at the feeling of the AC coming through the vent, her touch had lingered. Turning, Sam grabbed his jeans he had brought in with him and pulled them on. Exiting the bathroom he took up a gray t-shirt, covering up before noticing that Ruby wasn't in the bed anymore.

"Ruby?"

Heading for his cell phone he stopped when hands came to slide from behind and onto his stomach. When he looked down there were none and he swore he heard a laugh so hauntingly familiar...Sam furrowed his brow. A knock on the door caught his attention and then Ruby's voice saying she'd get it. Sam shook his head to shake it off. Looks like food was here.

"Pizza's here," Ruby announced and placed the cardboard box down on the table after paying the delivery boy and locking the door behind her. Pulling on a pair of jeans and her boots Ruby pulled her hair out from under her shirt and flicked it out behind her. She had errands to run and if her sources were right that meant Dean was topside and he had joined up with a powerful psychic that Ruby knew nothing about but if the rumors were true Ruby was better off not being anywhere around Sam when they showed up. Psychics had an annoying habit of picking demons out in a crowd, that is if they were any good at what they did. "I'm heading out," Ruby grabbed a slice of the pizza ad left the rest for Sam, "I'll meet up with you later."

888

**Custard's Inn  
Billings, Montana  
September 20, 2008  
10:43AM**

Sleep was a grudgingly necessary detour for Dean, he had gone longer without rest before but he might as well get what shut eye he could while Von was still under the effects of the drug. Resting her on the bed furthest from the door she stirred with a small murmur that sounded like a sad plea, wrapping her arms around Dean before slowly letting go to lie still on the bed. He couldn't make out the murmur, whether it was meant to be a word or just a simple sound that escaped her while she had been moved there wasn't any way to say. Knowing Von wasn't going to die on him in his sleep was a comfort, but knowing what awaited him in his dreams was not. He had not realized the fullness of his nightmares created by his memories in Hell until that night when they came back to him in all their gruesome clarity. The floor was cold and white hot lightning flashed and rattled overhead revealing enough of the horrors around him for it to forever be imprinted on his mind.

They cut and the scooped, sliced and bent. Huge strips of flesh would flap useless to the sides while swathes of muscles and ligament were exposed to the sulphuric air, bubbling and burning. The stink of rotten eggs and raw meat was nauseating, Dean remembered throwing up on his own exposed intestines only to be force fed whatever he had vomited by the demon that was babysitting him while the one in charge was visiting another pupil. A pupil, that was what he had been called by Alastair the one who had handpicked him from a dozen others. He knew the boy and his heritage and where John Winchester would not break his son would be broken completely. Alastair had come so close, so very close.

888

**5:24PM**

Dean's hazel-green eyes peeked open carefully at the sound of movement in the room, the table lamp was on the lowest setting, curtains blocking what sun there was outside by the small yellow slit glowing on the wallpaper behind Von's bed. The clock on the nightstand gave little hint as to what time of day it was because the cracked screen blinked 12:00AM in bold red font. His eyes remained fix on Von on the bed opposite him, where she sat nearly silent dabbing at her tear moistened eyes with a crumpled sheet of tissue her lips quivering slightly with a sigh filled with more emotions than could be described. In truth Dean was divided between whether he should let her know he was awake or pretend he hadn't seen her and carry on like normal. He just didn't know if it was the best thing to get involved in whatever was eating at her, then he remembered the girl and how scared of everything she was. And he remembered how much he had tried to protect her back then.

"Hey," he spoke softly from where he lay.

Von looked at him, quickly scrubbing the remnants of tears from her eyes with her rolled down sleeves and turning her face away to be half hidden by shadow and half by her hair. "Hey," she replied, stuffing the damp rag in her pocket and clearing her throat from the tightness of having been crying.

"You okay?" Dean began to sit up when Von nodded as she gripped the mattress tight before pushing off and stepping into the bathroom. He watched her go and heard the faucet run. With a heavy sigh Dean combed his left hand through his hair and let the limb drop between his legs as he sat on the edge of the bed. He couldn't get involved he ran over and over again in his head, he had to focus on finding Sam and making sure that he was alright. "Just looked like something is all," he muttered to himself just as Von reemerged from the bathroom.

She looked at him in askance as if she had known that he said something but she never prodded, not like Sam would have. "I need a shower, do you need to use the washroom?"

Having taken care of his business Dean was in the main room getting dressed which was an annoyance with only one good hand while Von was having her shower. He thought he heard her singing what distracted him though was the crack across the television screen, he didn't remember seeing that earlier in the morning before he hit the bed and fell asleep. And neither did he recall any of the cracks in the glass in the portraits throughout the room, all a gentle tap away from shattering.

"What the hell?" Dean inspected one of the pictures carefully, trying to detect some fault in it but there was no reason for them all to be cracked. Dean suspected a ghost before a demon, if it was a demon they would both be dead or currently being tortured to death. However, Dean's suspicions turned to Von when the EMF reader came up with nothing. Von was psychic after all and Dean was never told if she had any particular skill set pertaining to her condition. "I'm going to grab us something to eat," Dean hollered.

Grabbing his jacket he left without hearing a reply, he still had Von's keys in his pocket so he opted to take her Nova to find a decent burger joint. When he returned he found Von cleaning up the workings of a spell, looking over all no worse for wear aside from her still healing bruises and cuts from what he had done to her. She was less than pleased though that he had taken her car without her permission. "I wasn't going to run off the moment you were gone, I said I would help you find Sam and I will."

888

**Bozeman, Montana**  
**8:37PM**

"How did you know he was in Bozeman?" Dean queried once they exited the car and started walking up a street to an old motel just out of the downtown area. On the two hour trip Dean asked her if she was responsible for all the broken glass in the room, she reluctantly replied that she was and as far as the extent of her abilities went she didn't know. Von knew it scared Dean a little, her uncertainty, she was only trying to be honest instead of making promises that he would be safe around her when she knew that it would be false.

"I didn't, not exactly, I just knew he was close. Heading this way I was picking out a stronger signal until it led to this motel. This close I should be able to find the room he's staying in without a problem." At least some things Von could be certain of and she found some pride in Dean being confident in her confidence. She knew he wanted to ask questions, was Sam alright? Was he alive? But she knew if she answered he would be aggravated that she had inadvertently skimmed them from his mind. Even if she hadn't it would have been obvious what he was thinking because he was thinking it ever since they set out on this little adventure.

888

The pizza box had been cleaned out by his ravenous hunger along with a couple beers. When he was about to start in on weapon cleaning there was a knock on the door. Furrowing his brows he moved slowly, taking up his machete and hiding it behind the door before unlocking it and opening. Sam froze and backed up to the side as the figure of his brother moved into his room. Shock and pain rode him and he just stared, eyes searching Dean's face waiting for it to shift, calculating and working overtime. The voice didn't register in his brain, just numb static before instincts finally kicked in. Sam rushed the form, swinging out with the blade and missing as the man dodged. Anger, pure anger took place of everything he had been feeling before he acted.

_Why are they doing this to me? Why can't they just leave well enough alone?_

Landing a punch to the jaw he didn't get any further when he felt the prick of a cold sharp blade against his Adam's apple. Swallowing slowly he fumed, when the second voice came as he glared at the Doppleganger made him blink and feel like he had been knocked over the head with a skillet and was hearing looney tunes and birds. It sounded like the laugh he had heard earlier. When he tried to think past it, it was nearly impossible to find a way out from under the blade so he did the only thing he could and brought the machete around slowly enough to hand it to the woman behind him. He was so focused on the one who looked like his brother that he didn't realize there was another person.

The scant second after Sam struck Dean across the jaw Von was behind the tall brunette. She was quick, it also helped that Sam had never noticed her at all to him she was invisible until she was reaching behind him with her blade tickling his throat, honing in on his bobbing Adam's apple. All that fiery hate and pain was like a furnace against Von's skin feeding her own want to take answers out of Sam any way she pleased. Every hair on her body was at attention and if she had been a closer relation to a canine she would have been growling. "Calm down Sam," she warned.

She was going to ask for the machete next when Sam was already slowly passing it to her. She took the oversized butter knife and tossed it onto the bed a good ways behind and off to the side of them. Not for a second did she lose her place on Sam's throat, there was something terrible wrong with him. Von had no way of knowing what it was, it was dark and foreign to her but it was powerful. "Is he, him?" Dean asked as he rubbed at his jaw half ready to punch his brother right back even though there was surprise and hurt in his hazel-green orbs.

Von sighed, there were other tests but her hands were full and all Dean had on him was his whiskey and his gun, knowing what she was getting into she proceeded. Forcing Sam onto his knees by kicking the back of his legs Von grabbed a fistful of his shaggy hair, "He's not possessed."

She forced his head to crane back staring up at the ceiling, this was one way to be conclusive. He struggled but Von made it clear that if he wanted to keep all his blood in his body he was to stay still. Von's green orbs stared hard and deep into Sam's blue-green, deeper than a normal human's could have, to her conclusion the man she had at knife point was very much Sam. There wasn't any way she would be letting him go though, not until he realized it was truly his older brother standing before him. Allowing Sam to hold his head in a more natural position Von nodded to Dean.

"Maybe if Bobby was here you would be more willing to believe, but he is your brother, he is Dean." The buzz she was getting off of Sam was incredible and unlike anything she had felt before, she thought that Sam might be psychic too, there was a trace of something deep inside that resembled that trait. Yet the shadowy dread she felt slithering through her as she touched him smacked of a more evil origin.

"Let him go Von," Dean said, knowing that his younger brother's situation at Von's hands wasn't going to help them convince Sam of anything except that he had let a girl, a seriously dangerous girl, get the better of him.

Once the woman named Von released him he stood cautiously and looked from her to Dean. Von was moving in between him and Dean and he began to really take her in. Freckles. Green eyes. Red hair. Von. Sam blinked a little and relaxed his muscles. He remembered her from when he was younger, lanky, in High School and had the biggest crush on her than he had on any other girl he had met in his life growing up. Eyes shifting to Dean he shook his head. It couldn't be but why else would Von be there and mentioning Bobby? Why else? This was a damn fine trick if it wound up being one but he pushed it aside as he took long strides toward his brother and ignoring the defensive stance Von had as he embraced Dean. A lifeline. It had been too long that he had tried to find a way to get his brother back, he had missed him and though he was still a little on the confused and logical trying to find a way it wasn't him side, he couldn't deny that it was his brother down to the bits of gel in his hair.

Pulling back he was biting back the tears in his eyes. "How?"

888

**9:13PM**

Sam sat across from Dean and Von, staring at them more like it as he took in what they said. That Dean was up and about with nothing but a hand print burned into his arm all puckered and pink. As for Von, he couldn't help but notice that she had really grown up, she was no longer the shy girl he remembered, after all she did hold a knife to his throat. Seeing them he gathered this was why Ruby had left and he was glad she did. In no way was he going to tell his brother that Ruby was alive and that he had been with her for the past few months and doing what he was. Sam took a swig of his beer and stood, going to his duffel he removed the necklace, ring and watch to Dean.

"Thought you'd want these back."

_Dean's alive._ He couldn't stop thinking that and smiling.

Despite the happy reunion between brothers Von had to excuse herself from it, she had no place in it anyway, but it wasn't that that caused her to move from the room to the very small balcony that overlooked the sparsely lit street. She couldn't stop staring at Sam, studying and dissecting from a distance every last inch of him to discover what was causing the pinprick sensation at the back of her neck. The darkly nagging feeling that made every muscle twitch. She needed some space, what little the balcony could afford while staying close in case anything happened. Really, she should be taking her leave, she did her job by helping Dean find Sam just like Bobby wanted her to. Time to get back to the old crank or either be on her way and find out what was happening in her own backyard. But Von knew the minute she felt it that it wouldn't settle, this was more than overactive nerves from the recent hunt or the sedatives leaving her system.

Von knew she wouldn't be able to leave with this thing riding her and she would never forgive herself if she left and something happened to Dean after he saved her life. She owed him that much. Dean's face lit up like a kid on Christmas, taking the items from Sam and returning them in their proper places, save the ring which he stuffed in his jeans pocket, he'd have to wait until his hand healed. "Thanks, Sammy." The moment quietly faded away as Dean returned to his seat in time to see the look in Von's eyes as she passed on her way to the balcony. There were questions that had to be answered, many pressed on Dean's mind but one in particular was at the forefront. "You didn't have anything to do with me getting out did you?" the question came off as a mild accusation which couldn't be helped. Dean knew his brother well enough to know that Sam would have tried anything to get him out of Hell, even the stupidest thing imaginable, like make a deal with a demon. He hated doubting Sam, it tore at him, but he had to know the truth, it was the only way to figure out what had happened to him and who sprung him from The Pit.

"Do you think I would have tried to kill you if I did?" Sam asked, a little nerved that Dean would even ask that. "No. I didn't. And if you are going to ask, I did try a while back and they wouldn't even consider making a deal. I am just in the blue as you are about this whole thing."

His attention moved to where Von was standing and he could tell from the set in her shoulders and muscles she was on edge. Instinct from Ruby's training kicked in and he couldn't help but wonder if she suspected...but it was impossible. There would be no way she could tell, neither could Dean. That part of him that flared, quieted and he knew that he was too good at it that he looked normal on the outside. No muscle tightening, no jaw clenching, no change in the pupils. He had to work on that otherwise others would be able to tell. Demons would see how out of his element he was when interrogating and practicing. Sam went back to his seat and sat down, meeting his brothers eyes. The calculations and searching in them and Sam almost smiled inwardly. He always thought Dean was good at hiding his thoughts but now...sighing mentally, Sam knew he had changed over the past few months, he had to and he shook off how he was thinking, the mindset of observing others weaknesses that he had been drilled into noticing. Or was it more like habits rather than weaknesses? Things he didn't recognize before?

_Ruby has gotten into my head too much if I am thinking these things as weaknesses._

The conviction in Sam's voice ceased Dean's accusations, not without a sad shake of his head; he knew his brother would get low enough to try something. He was glad the demons didn't want anything to do with him; it was a little unnerving why they didn't try to get two for the price of one especially since Sam was supposed to be the big leader for the demon army that Yellow Eyes had been cooking up. Whatever happened with that was anyone's guess. Sam was giving him that earnest expression, this time it made him a little uneasy though he wasn't sure why.

"So what have you been doing then, aside from striking out with Crossroads demons, Bobby says you ditched him after you guys buried me?" the elder brother cast his eyes around the room. Aside from the usual mess nothing seemed out of place, he knew better than to let that ease his mind though, the slightest niggling at the back of his head and the way Von was on edge made him wiser than to relax. Von had the spidey sense and Dean felt he needed to trust that.

The question was to be expected and Sam answered as if he was talking to Ruby. Training. Hard to break the habit. "Hunting mainly. Trying to find Lilith. And I know that it was wrong to leave Bobby like that but I couldn't stay after that Dean. I buried you. I dug your grave. Had to get away and sure I wasn't in the best place but I met some hunters and got back on track. As for the Lilith situation still working on that. Despite the fact that you didn't want me to."

He meant every word he said but Sam couldn't help the internal shudder at how he was detached and lying like a professional. It made him start to go back to the thoughts he had every now and then the past few months with Ruby on who was he? What was he becoming? Sam drank the last of his beer and stood to throw it away. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. All he could hear was Ruby's voice in his head, her hands on his body, her blood in his mouth...maybe it was good she left. These things were screaming at him now in the presence of his brother and Von that he needed a break from her. The fact was he still didn't trust her entirely but he trusted her enough to have sex with her, to hunt with her. Hell, she saved his life a few times and was willing to help him. He trusted her enough to drink from her and somewhere inside that still repulsed him. The urge was too hard to stop though. What would they think?

Sam straightened and headed back to them.

Von shuddered and it wasn't from the cool touch of the metal railing she was leaning her bare hands against as she stared down at the street below. It was the feeling of repulsion, disgust at one's own self, but the emotion didn't belong to her and it didn't belong to Dean. Every hunter carried a certain level of self-loathing, no dispute there, but this tasted of betrayal. It made Von's suspicions rise, if they could any further. She remembered Sam very well, this seemed so very different than the boy she used to know. Unrelated to the emotions swimming between the brothers as they conversed and caught up an uncomfortable surge of bile shot up Von's throat. She regurgitated part of the burger she had eaten hours before over the side of the balcony without much of a noise.

It was an unpleasant experience, throwing up, but it was expected since within the last day she had been injected with a dangerous amount of barbiturates. She was lucky a little vomit was the only symptom to show up. Spitting out what remained in her mouth Von leaned back with a small sigh, resuming her watchful stance on the cityscape and lending an ear to the conversation inside. And if her ears were any good at all it wasn't sounding like Sam was saying all he should have been saying.

"Damn right I didn't want you to," Dean criticized. Just like their father, reckless as they come especially when it came to vengeance, wouldn't see that the whole thing was a suicide mission. Then it dawned on him and Dean stared in hard amazement and scepticism at Sam, "How'd you make it outta there anyway, thought Lilith was gonna kill you?"

Unless Bobby had kicked some serious ass Sam should have been dog food just like he had been, the thought chilled his blood because he was more than happy to see his brother alive but it did raise some worrying questions. That only fell back on what Von said before about a demon, if Sam wasn't possessed than what the hell was it? It was possible that demons had been watching Sam without him knowing it, Von could have been picking up on that. She even admitted she didn't know how powerful she was, and that meant her accuracy could have been out of whack.

_She found Sam though, not many could have done that._

Dean didn't want to think about too much, not until he had some solid answers about what went on while he was down under. He was going to try damn hard not to jump to any conclusions, he just had to relax, get his shaken nerves to calm down.

"I don't know, it was strange. Hard to describe other than the fact that she seemed scared of something and jumped ship. Don't ask me what but not long after that Bobby came. I don't remember it as well as I should but what do you expect? I sort of blocked out everything seeing you that way," Sam answered.

_Not important that Lilith couldn't kill me, she tried but it didn't work._

His eyes flickered to the balcony and he stared at the red head with her back turned to him. How exactly did they find him? Sam thought he covered his tracks well considering how Bobby couldn't find him. Bobby. He missed the elder hunter. Still felt guilty about abandoning him. He would like nothing more now that Dean was back to head back to South Dakota and make amends but scenarios of how they would be suspicious of him suddenly saying they should head there and find out what brought Dean out of Hell. Over thinking was what he did best and it hurt his brain, he was literally getting a headache and hoped that he didn't accidentally do anything from it. Swallowing he was at a loss for words but spoke regardless. "Any more questions or is it okay if I suggest it might be best to find out more about your situation?"

"Don't get so defensive, I'm the one that's been six feet under for four months I think I deserve an update."

But Dean had his suspicions, fears from not so many years ago coming to his mind, things he had been thinking over for the past hour since they had found Sam. He couldn't explain why he trusted Von's instinct on the matter so much, especially when he barely knew her as an adult, only that she had been through more than he would likely ever find out about. Still, his own uneasiness was coupled by the searing mistrust that he swore he could feel from the red head on the balcony. Dean felt her vividly green orbs on him as well but when he cast his glance that way she was as she had been with her back turned to them. The elder Winchester rolled his shoulders to repress the freaky shiver that quivered through his spine.

"I'd love to know but I have no clue, Bobby already gave me the gears and so did she," he chucked his thumb to Von, "we're both wearing the proof from that line of questioning. I would have been just as happy to give you a hug too but we might have ended up on the floor again," he called to her from where he sat.

"Wouldn't have been my first time," she answered.

Dean observed her quietly for a moment then returned his attention to Sam, "Could've been a demon that rode me out, disturbing on its own it brings up a whole other set of questions."

_That I'm not sure I want the answers to._

"I agree. Anything involving demons and their motives are bad news." Sam almost blinked twice at what he said. It was instinct. But Ruby was different, she wasn't like them, she had proved that. Hadn't she? Wetting his lips he swallowed. "Well I can pack up my stuff and we can hit the road back to Bobby's in 5, we should get a start on this and make sure that whatever pulled you out doesn't intend on coming back and doing God knows what."

The younger Winchester began to move around, grabbing up his stuff, his back turned to his brother as he felt Von finally come into the room and closer to the door. By the time they actually left the room to let him finish he stopped in his packing and noticed with staring eyes and a tight jaw how badly his hand was beginning to shake. Reaching over to take some Asprin and finishing up, he left the room and headed downstairs to return his key and sign out. Meeting up with Dean and Von in the parking lot he already began to head towards the Impala he had parked in a dark spot for security purposes. Handing the keys over to Dean he climbed into the passenger seat and that was where he felt home again. Too long it seemed he had been in the driver's seat where it didn't feel right, not comfortable, not his and definitely tossing on a bad memory of his brother. Sighing and looking ahead he began to notice when the car started and music came out that Dean was not moving. His head turned and he met the look on his face.

_Why does he look like he just saw a beaver bang a unicorn?_

"Dude, what the fuck?" Dean proclaimed and without waiting for any kind of sympathy inducing explanation from his tone deaf sibling he yanked the technological abomination from its wire and tossed it into the backseat, not caring enough to see if it had landed safely on the seat. "I told you to look after her, not-" he clenched his jaw in annoyance and jerked his head away to stare out the windshield as he reversed his beloved car out of the parking stall and onto the road behind Von's Nova who had beaten him to the punch.

The five hour drive to Gillette, Wyoming which would have taken a person driving at a sane speed close to six and a half to seven hours was spent by the two classic cars jockeying for the lead. It was Dean who started it two hours in, obviously breeching his level of boredom and needing something to take his mind off of, well his mind and to shut Sam up because he wouldn't let it be that Dean told him he remembered nothing of Hell. He missed his brother, he thought he would have gone as far to miss his incessant questioning but everything had its limits. When Von saw the Impala sidle up beside her and pull past she couldn't push down the urge to answer the challenge, she be damned if she were to humor Dean's ego and allow him to flash his car's well-endowed ass at her, and she spared no sympathy that he was only driving with one good hand. Shifting gear the Nova nearly kissed the chrome on the Impala's bumper before swinging out into the opposing lane, keeping pace before gunning ahead once more.

And so it continued for the better part of three hours until the three hunters arrived at the first motel they could find. As exciting as they had made the drive it wearied them to be on the road for so long, legs needed to be stretched, bladders emptied and stomachs filled. Restaurants attached to motels were a wonderful convenience to people of the road like them, where one could take care of so many necessities at once and where they were open at all hours. Dean booked a room with two beds for himself and Sam and Von booked her own room, for obvious reasons to her and ones that Dean had his own thoughts on after seeing the state of the glass frames in the last motel room they shared. Besides no one wanted to sacrifice themselves to the couch. And while they sat at a table in the restaurant Dean had not yet heard the end of Sam's rant regarding his roadway behavior.

Von knew that part of the one sided discussion was directed towards her as well for encouraging the elder brother's reckless antics, she merely sat in patient silence worthy of a saint as she sipped her water, casually and carefully observing her surroundings. Really with sitting so close to Sam Von was feeling him out, a strange tense vibration had emitted from him hours before when he first mentioned that they should return to South Dakota so that he could make amends with Bobby. Sam never said that, his reasons were to find out what was happening with Dean but Von knew that there that other purpose that was just as important. That vibration had a familiarity to it that had Von returning to her theory that Sam was possibly a psychic of some degree. It intrigued her, just as Dean intrigued her though in a different way, yet the darkness and the reek of something horrible that surrounded Sam could not be shaken off so easily. It clung to him like a shroud, and Von was only too careful in trying to pull it back.

"Seriously? You get out of Hell and find Von and both of you act like you're teenagers again. Do you know how dangerous that is to fool around?" Sam snapped, he had been gripping the side door and the seat, feet bracing the floor and heart pounding during the whole thing. "Give me a heart attack and especially you Von. I would have never expected that behavior from you. Sure years have gone but no talking back there in the motel in Bozeman, oh you fooled me. Just think before you do reckless stuff again and eat your dinner. We'll head back to the motel so you two can sleep but in the morning if you two so much as pull this stuff again I'm putting you in the backseat and I'm driving. Is that clear?"

Sam stabbed at his salad and shoved it into his mouth after he pointed and stared at them, grumbling as he continued to eat, looking down and at the newspaper he had bought outside. He was happy he got Dean back and glad to see Von again but they were going to be the death of him or give him a stroke or whatever. Obviously they got along like long lost friends who were nothing but troublemakers. Under the table, near the window, furthest from them, his hand continued to shake, his blood pressure was high and he hated how much he needed more than what the salad and sandwich he was eating could give him.

Von just shrugged, putting it off like she didn't care. She wasn't going to explain why she did it, she wasn't obligated to answer to him. The little race had been fun, but it was only an implication of something that she disliked about her abilities, the compulsion of others inflicted upon her own will. And while for the most part she could resist and ignore the blatant urge to act in kind to someone else who had a strong emotion towards something, sometimes she allowed that foreign emotion to influence her and in this case it was all in fun, no harm, no foul. Otherwise she would have put a wall against it and resisted it completely, she at least had that going for her. She had become her serenely somber, quiet self once more, almost acting if she were mute against Sam's throng of bitching.

"We're not the ones that are a threat to your safety," was all she said after he was done. Her words had an ominous tone that was directed for Sam's ears only, certain that Dean had only heard it as a reassurance that their mini adventure wasn't designed with an intent to harm Sam in any way.

"Relax, Mother Hen," Dean rolled his eyes and bit into his juicy double-bacon cheeseburger, "s'not like that's the most dangerous thing that's ever happened to you." He grinned that smartass grin that he knew Sam hated and took another healthy bite out of his burger before chasing it down with some soda. It was a shame that Sam seemed born with a perpetual stick up his ass that only seemed to grow with age, of course the day that Sam actually loosened up and had some fun would be the day that Hell froze over. Dean didn't believe in miracles so he knew that was never going to happen.

Von dunked two of her fries into pepper laced ketchup and brought them up to her mouth, taking the bite her pinky and ring finger spasmed oddly and she stared at the digits while she chewed and swallowed her fries. Dean asked her if she was okay and she nodded, shaking the twitching out of her hand with a few flicks of her wrist. Her heart had fluttered simultaneously and it gave an unsettling weight in her stomach that something really wasn't right, but she couldn't declare accusations when she wasn't one hundred percent sure what had caused it. But her deep green orbs glanced to Sam briefly before she started in on her chicken burger. No, she just couldn't be sure.

His eyes flicked to Von as she reacted to something and stared at her hand. Sam couldn't help but furrow his brows and look away again, his gaze flicking to his own hand. Could it be that he was around another one that was like him? He hadn't met another one since Azazel had joined together all his prodigies. Maybe there were things he didn't know about Von, not like he thought he did. And that made him all the more determined for precautions. What if she was and she could sense what he did? Ruby? Sam continued to eat and ignored Dean's quip, finishing his paper and when they were all done they were back at the motel and Sam couldn't sleep. Sitting at the table there with his laptop he tapped his shaky hand against his knee under the table and stared at his email and to his phone. Would Ruby text or send something to let him know just what was going on with her?

A small movement from his brother had him lock onto him and he worried. What had Dean gone through in Hell? He was evasive in the car ride and Sam didn't believe him one bit when he said he didn't remember. There had be something that Dean wasn't telling him and the scary part was that it had to be pretty damn bad to affect Dean. Wiping his hand down his face he sighed and closed his eyes, head in his hands, elbows resting on the wooden surface. Von. He couldn't stop thinking about her too. Since they had separated and Dean had fallen asleep, he could swear he heard her voice behind him, in his ear like a soft whisper and her presence next to him. Driving him crazy. He pulled on his hair to the point it could be pulling out a couple strands and stopped once the pain cleared his head. Not getting any sign of messages he closed the laptop and moved to his own bed, laying down and turning off the light as he attempted to sleep.


	6. The Gang Is Back Together

**Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
9:20PM**

Of all the things...Alex stared at her car in disbelief. She had managed to cut down the time to get to this point and her car had paid the price for it. Standing outside the Booze Boys Discount Wine store of all places too. She didn't doubt they didn't have good wine but so close to the border of the states where she needed to be and her car started acting like it was possessed. The odd part was Alex checked under the hood and there were no problems, everything was in top shape and working fine. Only damn thing was it wouldn't turn on and wouldn't even sound that the starter was trying to work. Alex wanted to ram her fist into something until it broke or bled.

_Don't start thinking you are cursed Alex._

"Wasn't going to."

After a while she had gone inside and asked the man behind the counter if he knew the number of a tow company and to call them for her. She was too angry to talk right now and to be honest worry settled in her stomach that she might blow up the receiver. When the crappy tow came around the corner she couldn't read what was on the side as the name was scratched off and rusted. Alex thought that for a 'Salvage' place they would know how to take care of the paint job on their biggest rescuing advertisement. Once the person situated it just right to prepare the hook up and got out, Alex began to regret saying she wasn't thinking she was cursed. A damn teenager was driving it. Boot cut jeans, cowboy boots, a white t-shirt under a short sleeved button up blue work shirt with his name Trevor on it. Brown hair with blond in it, dimples and a Brad Pitt face to go along with the shining hazel eyes with a southern twinkle in them.

"I'll have you hooked up in no time. Do you need me to drop you off at your house or at a motel or something?"

Alex couldn't stop staring at him, bending over and working expertly. She wasn't checking him out but assessing whether it was safe to let him handle her car and get in the car with him. "No. I don't live here. Just take me to your boss so I can discuss the situation."

"Alright." Trevor chuckled, shaking his head smiling. Finishing up and wiping the grease on his jeans he turned and faced the woman, seeing her stunning blue eyes and seeing everything else that framed her he warmed up instantly. Hand out and white teeth showing he introduced himself. "My name is Trevor McMillan at your service. Mind if I ask just where you are from Ma'am?"

_Ma'am? Oh boy._

The laughing in her head, made Alex scowl and she walked around Trevor, not bothering to shake his hand as she opened the passenger door and slid in. Waiting for him to take the hint, she stared out the windshield as weight was added and the engine came to life. Silence took up the space as the drive commenced.

Trevor tapped his fingers absently on the steering wheel, not sure what to say or whether to turn the radio on or not but he had a feeling she probably didn't like country. So the silence took over and practically killed him. What happened to the guy who was a football player and played guitar in band? The charismatic mechanic? The woman in the seat beside him was amazing, for some reason he had that feeling his gut that he had to know her. There was a pull to her and that connected to him like a silver chord. Trevor glanced at her and tried to open his mouth only to turn away and focus on the road. Why was this so hard? She didn't answer him and that only made him want to try harder. Why did she, out of all the girls in his Senior class, have this effect on him?

Thankful when the driveway to the Salvage Yard came to view he pulled in and smiled. This place felt like home despite that his home was next door but he never felt more himself and safe than when he was at Bobby Singer's place. Alex on the other hand nearly died at the sight of the house they drove past to get to the yard in back. A hard swallow came, her palms grew shaky and cold, her vision blurred slightly and her heart sped up. Her luck was just going down the drain lately. First almost dying, Von and Dean, then her car and now this. Closing her eyes and exiting the tow truck she stared at the back of the house. Dread. Anger. Pain. Memories. Everything crashing into her like a werewolf. In fact she would rather deal with a werewolf than this.

"Just head on up and inside, Bobby Singer is his name and he'll get you all figured out while I unhook your car and check it in the log," Trevor said with a huge smile, noticing oddly the brunette's rigid stature and shaking it off.

"Yeah..." Alex said dazed, inhaling and exhaling as she began to head for the porch, up the stairs and inside.

The place was just like she remembered, albeit more rundown than usual. Standing in the kitchen she could hear the gruff familiar voice in the study around the corner of the kitchen wall talking on a phone. One of his well-known working phones for other hunters to be an alias. Alex calmed herself, set her shoulders and her face and walked around and in, waiting for the hunter to look up and when he finally did, time seemed to freeze.

_Oh fuck._

Perplexity situated itself neatly over Bobby's features as he stared at the brunette that had entered his home, he never thought he'd ever see that face again and it brought so many emotions to the forefront that he had forgot all about what he had been talking about and who he had been saying it to. Showing his experience at handling disarming situations he quickly regained his composure. "Gotta call ya back Trent." And without waiting for the dismayed and slightly annoyed answer of the man on the other line Bobby slid the phone back onto its craddle. He remembered the last time he saw Alex, yet despite that it was still good to see she hadn't gone and gotten herself killed out there. "Never thought I'd see ya standin' where ya are now," the elder spoke and he could see that Alex was just as stunned and awkward to be in the house as he expected her to be and as he somewhat felt his own self.

"Yeah, neither did I." A beat. Alex shook it off or tried to as she moved to look around the study anywhere but at him. "Fate has some nasty tricks and jokes up her sleeve," she muttered under her breath, hand going over a book she remembered only to bring it back like it burned her. Her attention went back to the hunter. "How much to fix my car? I have somewhere to be and I know that you want me gone just as much as I want to be out of your hair."

_Nice one. He obviously doesn't feel that way, look at him. But I'm not disagreeing with you, hunters...the lot of them...vermin._

888

**Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
McMillan Househould  
6:10AM**

Trevor was on the floor of his bedroom. It wasn't the best place to sleep but he found he could do it just fine with the right arrangement of blankets. He had woken up to the sound of something moving and his attention fixed on the brunette woman he still had yet to know the name of in his bed. Now he remembered. Not long last night after she had gone inside had she come out a little steamed up and practically yelled at him when he said what he could see so far and that he would have to begin the next day. The woman had gone past him and immediately entered the backseat of her car, pulling up what appeared to be a blanket and lying down out of sight. Trevor wasn't sure why she wasn't going to stay in a motel or even in one of Bobby's spare rooms as the elder tended to have visitors that did that very thing.

After a while of cleaning up around the area he had decided that a car was no place for a woman to have to sleep. Pulling her out without waking her he headed to his house, explaining to his mom the situation and headed upstairs, door open for reassurance and she had checked to make sure the guest was okay and he was no where near getting in his own bed. Slowly rising up from where he was, he grabbed a t-shirt from his drawer and pulled it on, deciding his jeans were good enough for another go around before a wash was required. Trevor went down the stairs to find his mom Linda, breakfast cooking on the stove and three place settings. He stared at the last chair at the table without one and hated how it was a constant reminder that his dad was no longer with them. That he would never see him again.

"Is our guest awake yet honey?"

Shaking his head he retrieved a glass from the cupboard to fill with chocolate milk. His mom chastised him constantly to drink normal milk or even juice but he liked the taste, it had a strong tang to it especially near the expiration date. A mystery but enjoyable. Finishing up the glass he went back up to finish getting ready for the day. He had work to do.

888

She had fallen asleep last night, Alex hadn't really thought about not sleeping and had done it anyways. There he was like always. Above her, smiling down at her, bare chest, her in her bra and panties and him in his boxers. Pure love in those amazing brown eyes, buzz cut head, the cheekbones prominent and accenting his perfect mischievous smile. The dog tags he wore from his time he had served before hunting hanging in the middle and resting between her breasts. "Is this a dream? Are you really here...with me?" Alex whispered, searching his orbs and touching with her hands lightly along his neck and down his biceps and back to cup the sides of his face gently.

Interesting how her hands were never gentle after what had happened. What _had_ happened? His words and touch took away her thought process. Fingers brushing her cheek and outlining her lips he couldn't believe how lucky he was to be with someone so special and beautiful on the inside and out no matter what she was. "If I wasn't, you wouldn't be feeling me so close to you. Alex, are you sure this is what you want? Here? Now? We don't have to, we can wait."

"No, no. I want it to be with you. Only you." Alex brought her head up and lips met his before pulling back to smile and whisper against his lips. "I love you Kayden."

Alex gasped as she sat up, eyes wide, her heart beating wildly. The last thing she heard after what had been said was the door being kicked in. Fear had entered her and she on full panic mode. Where was she? How did she get here? Where was Kayden? Then the world came spinning back. Different bedroom, no apartment, clothes were on and soon after the mechanic Trevor entered and smiled talking about how she was awake. Standing up fuming she shoved past him and headed down the stairs. The little perv put her in his bed last night. How did he manage that? But her confusion halted her at the bottom of the stairs, staring into the kitchen where a woman was sitting, three plates with food...Trevor came rushing after her and collided, catching Alex before she fell to the floor and that brought the woman's attention to them.

"Oh good. Have a seat you two and eat up." Alex didn't know what to do. Swallowing she wanted to yell and curse and storm out but this woman seemed nice. Likeable and the smell made her stomach grumble. It was delicious smelling. Only when she finally gave in and sat down did she realize how deceiving that smell was. It had no flavor, was undercooked and overcooked at the same time. Was this woman trying to kill her? "So stranger, why don't you tell us about yourself? My name is Linda McMillan though everyone calls me Lindy, you're welcome to if you like."

_What in high Hell did we walk into down here?_

"Um..."

_Lie._

"I'm Alex, uh," swallowing and taking a long gulp of orange juice she wished it was whiskey. Setting it down she stared at the two pairs of eyes staring back at her as they ate calmly, though it was akin to being observed by hyenas. "My car broke down on the way to a job for marketing and little did I know that I would be visiting an old...friend...Bobby from the circumstances. That's all I got for you."

Linda continued to stare at the blunt ending but she wound up smiling and giving a little laugh. "Oh you are just like Noah. Straight forward with that nervousness when a question arises. Don't worry Alex, I've been called intimidating and forward so I understand. Eat up and head on over next door when you're done."

_Being a demon, even she makes me uncomfortable._

888

**Bluebell Motel  
Gillette, Wyoming  
September 21, 2008  
6:08AM**

Von replaced the Band-Aid that covered to small red dots on her thigh and a reddish purple bruise that surrounded them. Dean had slammed those needles into her but she didn't blame him for that, not after how she went for him...if he only knew what she had planned on doing to him. She never imagined her gut would stop twisting at the thought, turning sex into a hateful outlet was not a mode of release that Von had ever considered towards anyone. Shoving the thought from her mind she craned her neck to gaze at the ceiling and closed her eyes in an effort to relax. It was a false hope and Von knew that, the only way to gain relaxation would be through drugs or death and while she had enough narcotics to open up her own pharmacy from the trunk of her car it was a route she had taken many times before.

She found through her experimentation of drugs of all sorts that she had an unnatural resistance to many of them, so she dosed up more to the point where she should have died, but she never did, she came so very close but she never got to that final ledge that she couldn't turn back from. If it didn't work to chase her nightly routine of nightmares and haunting visions away then there was no point in destroying her body. The use of the drugs made her want to kill herself more than the nightmares did, withdrawal was never a pleasant experience, and that said something about the severity of her nocturnal experiences and something about herself as well. That she would rather face that hellish torture than pop another pill or shove another needle in her arm.

Still her little collection had its uses, as exhibited by the hunt with the succubus and incubus, and it would no doubt come in handy again. With a burdened sigh Von moved from the bed whose edge she had been perched on and to her duffle, she had already made sure twice that all her wards and protections were in place, but she couldn't sleep. Dawn would be arriving soon, the faint glimmers of it were already beginning to show from what little horizon Von could see through the part in the curtain she was now sitting by cleaning and sharpening her favorite knife. It was an unnecessary thing to work on since the knife was already clean and sharp enough to cut through most forms of flesh and bone, but it gave her mind some focus. Though less than a minute passed before her thoughts were back on the events of the last few days, and that keen focus on her knife turned towards Dean and Sam.

The Winchesters were the stuff made of lore and legend in some parts. Great heroes, or no better than the evil things they hunted depending on who you asked. After Wyoming many hunters turned their backs on the Winchester brothers and anyone who had sympathies towards them. It wasn't such a loss as many hunters were reclusive and the brothers were used to being on their own with only Bobby more than anyone to rely on, but it did lengthen their list of enemies. Hunters were not a forgiving sort of people, and if they could live forever so would their grudges.

Placing the knife down on the table Von stared at her hand, it was so curious how it had acted a short hour ago and how her heart had jogged along with the spasming of the finger muscles. There was a nervous energy to it and a deep craving behind that nervousness like that of a drug addict. The last dregs of the sedatives that had been pumped into her system were leaving, though some symptoms would likely linger for another day or so, yet she did not yearn for another hit as other people would have. Von was hardly a fool which was why she suspected her senses had picked up on Sam's shaky right hand which only made the mystery that surrounded him more deep.

For if it was Dean's right hand that she had honed into it would have throbbed with heat and the raw sting of exposed nerve endings. She felt guilty for Dean's hand, she would check it when he woke up and see to it that it healed properly and maybe if some miracle persisted she could fix it completely. But what mess had Sam brought upon himself Von continued to ponder and work over in her mind, the situation was a delicate one, perhaps not as delicate as Von perceived it to be but it had to be handled with care and no small amount of caution.

888

**Gilette, Wyoming  
Bluebell Motel  
6:20AM**

Sam had gotten up 5 minutes ago and headed out to get some coffee for Dean and himself, an apple juice for Von if his memory served correctly and some breakfast burritos. As he was walking back he had checked his cell and still there was no such text message from Ruby. He cursed as he put it back in his pocket. Some sign would be nice but he had a feeling as long as he was around Von and Dean she wouldn't give one. Especially Von from what he picked up last night. Entering their room he barely made a step or two before a knock came at the door. He looked at where his brother was no longer sleeping and the bathroom door being shut he turned and with items still in hand opened to let in who he suspected was at the door.

"Got breakfast in case you are hungry," he said.

_I'm not hungry._

"Thanks."

A kind smile lighted upon Von's cheerless features as she took the apple juice that was offered to her. It was funny how such a simple and common drink as apple juice could stir up so many memories of her past, both good and bad things that poked at her emotions. Stepping into the room after Sam she closed the door behind her and went over to the window to pull back the curtains, hearing Dean in the washroom drew her attention before she followed Sam to the tiny kitchenette area. She watched him a moment but before that tingly feeling went down Sam's neck to let him know that she was staring at him in a very unnerving way Von cast her penetrating green orbs towards the bathroom door.

What Sam didn't need to know was that Von had been watching him since he left the motel room, it wasn't a long trip to grab breakfast but it gave Von some interesting peculiars to keep in mind. He kept checking his phone like an obsessive girlfriend who was getting paranoid about her boyfriend because he didn't answer her text the second she sent it to him. He had a nervous energy that he was trying very hard to hide and he kept checking his shaky hand when he thought no one was around to see. It reminded Von of an addict, but she had to have more to go on to further that theory. She licked absent mindedly at the healed over cut on her lip as she set up a small medical station to tend to Dean's hand.

She knew that he knew that she was here and it wasn't long before he entered the room holding his raw hand by the wrist with the other, trying to get a hold on the throbbing pain that was shooting up his arm. Von shook her head, she guessed that Dean was used to some pretty ghetto methods when it came to first aid but he should have known better than to put a cotton bandage on a plasma oozing burn. She felt guilty for not helping him with it sooner, because she knew that if she had he wouldn't have resorted to using whatever he had on hand to take care of the burn.

"Hello, nurse," Dean grinned through the pain and took a seat at the small kitchen table. Von had to give him credit for his stubborn cavalier attitude, even though she could see how the burn affected him deeply set in his eyes.

Running some cold water over a bowl filled with ice cubes Von returned to set the ice water on the table, "You'll have to soak your hand in order to ease the pain and swelling as well as loosen the bandages."

Clenching his jaw Dean prepared himself for the flood of pain that was about to enter his body. Slipping his hand into the cold pool of water he hissed and started to jerk back while his other arm forced the hand to be submerged completely. It was amazing how something could be painful and relieving at the same time, the cold was sharp yet cooled his inflamed skin while it stung all the same from the exposed nerves under broken and blistered skin. Fifteen minutes elapsed before Von would allow Dean to take his hand from the water and in that time she had given him some pain meds to swallow with a couple fingers of whiskey.

Taking Dean gently by the wrist Von injected a local anesthetic into Dean's hand before she began to carefully and meticulously peel the bandage from the raw tissue. Even soaked the cotton fibers clung to the moist and damaged tissues, it was unavoidable that some of the skin was going to be taken with it. His hand was cool but getting warmer, puffed up and red,, with plasma and blood splotched and oozing from cracks in the disfigured limb. Von continued her work despite Dean's objections and violent exclamations which the red head quieted by giving him more whiskey, she wound up handing him the entire bottle just to keep him occupied while she finished removing the troublesome cloth.

Sam winced at the sight of his brothers wound. He wondered how he had gotten it but he had noticed when Dean was talking back in Bozeman. Eating without looking too much he managed to swallow down his burrito and coffee without feeling the need to vomit. Feeling somewhat satiated and needing something other than food he figured it was enough to keep him steady. For now at least. Moving around to gather his laptop he put it into his bag and finally checked his phone again for good measure when Von wasn't looking at him. Her eyes settling on him made him very uneasy and want to yell at her to stop it. He wasn't doing anything wrong, he was just...waiting for Ruby. Which in a sense was all kind of wrong but he couldn't help it. He needed to hear from her.

Turning to face them finding Von finishing up on Dean he gave a small awkward smile. "Think you can drive with that hand?"

_No road racing and give time for Dean to recoup._

He knew the answer before it came out of his brothers mouth. There was no way, now that Dean was back, that he was going to leave the driving to Sam. Especially not after the iPod he had to fish out of the backseat and slip into his duffel. Hands up in showing of good faith and no harm, "Just looking out for you."

He was counting her freckles as a way to distract his attention from his mangled hand. And while the medication and the whiskey were a welcome help to ease the agonizing pain he could still feel the pull of the bandages as they took away skin and the oily smell of the plasma tinted with crimson made him try harder to keep his sight from the wound. A part of him wanted to know how bad it was, to see the reality of it, another part didn't want to think that maybe he would lose the use of the limb completely. The idea made him scared, at first her belly ached and bitched until he was given enough whiskey to drop a biker, now all he wanted to do was focus on Von's freckles.

Dean heard a song, a voice without words sang and hummed and he thought maybe the radio had been turned on, but it wasn't like any song that he had ever heard before. Not that he had the broadest musical tastes, usually sticking to his classic rock and hardly venturing from the nostalgia that it brought. But this song was beautiful, it sounded old, unusual and out of place for its time, and then it ended, but Dean was too mesmerized to ask either one of them whether they had heard it or not. Von secured the last dressing to Dean's hand, the material was coated with a jelly like substance that would keep the wound from drying out and cracking as well as keep any infection from taking hold. Giving Dean a small reassuring smile Von cleaned up her supplies while Sam posed the question of whether or not Dean was capable of driving with his hand. All Dean needed to give was a look for Sam to know he wasn't going to win this argument even while he gave the defense that he was just looking out for Dean's best interests.

"Let's get the hell outta here." Dean grabbed his keys with his good hand and exited the room, a minute later the rumbling purr of the Impala's engine could be heard in the motel parking lot.

With her med-kit in her hand Von turned to Sam, "We'll have to go to a hospital once we reach Bobby's, I've done what I can for Dean's hand but it's going to need proper medical attention." Most of their possessions were already packed up and ready to go in their respective vehicles, now they had a six hour drive ahead of them and once the Winchesters loaded the last of their gear into the Impala they took the lead with Von's Nova following behind. There was no racing or other roadway shenanigans on the journey, Dean was ahead as he wanted to be and Von was content to take up the rear, to watch and think.

888

**Sioux Falls, South Dakota  
Singer's Salvage and Home**

Alex was glad to be out of that house and away from that food. By the time they were in the backyard and heading inside the house, she grew uneasy. Trading one place for another. Entering the familiar old home she picked up the smell of heavenly food. Her stomach growled and groaned. Trevor smirked and took a seat at the table in the kitchen. She on the other hand stayed far from it and the elder as possible as she backpedaled and exited to the outdoors. Sure the food was tempting, after what she had consumed and all, but there was too much going on with her and Bobby from the past. Would like to see him not as much as the youngest of them.

Moving to her car she checked it over. Was it just her or did it look worse? Tilting her head to the side, she crouched to her tip toes and stared at a hanging headlight. Mouth open went to touch it only for it to fall with a metallic thud. "What on earth?" Glancing back to the house she wondered just what Trevor had done to it when she had been inside that place.

Bobby frowned when he could tell that Alex had entered the house only to make a hasty retreat out into the yard. They had had more than their fair share of disagreements in the past and Alex's hadn't left on the best of terms, which had always been a sore spot for the elder hunter. But there wasn't any way to undo the past no matter how hard one might wish it.

"Thought for sure she would've come runnin' in here after yer mom's cookin'" Bobby grinned at young Trevor, almost everyone within a fifty mile radius had been the victim of Lindy's cooking, it wasn't fit for fertilizer. Bobby dished out a good portion of the breakfast onto Trevor's plate, he knew the guy was young but damn the kid could have eaten a whole horse to himself the way he packed the food away.

"Ain't that the truth," Trevor groaned before rubbing his hands together and digging it, stockpiling the food into his mouth as if the apocalypse was upon them. After chewing a little and swallowing he gestured with his fork towards the door where Alex had disappeared. "I know it isn't any of my business Bobby, but last night it seemed like Alex and you had history from her exit. Am I right? If I am is there anything I should know about her?"

The moment that left his mouth, a storm came into the house. "What did you do to my car?" Alex yelled at Trevor.

Slowly he turned around in his seat and then stood. Panic took over his expression and confusion. "What do you mean? I-"

"It's falling apart out there and she wasn't bad when you towed her here!"

"Sorry for the inconvenience ma'am-"

"Just fix it."

Alex left and Trevor looked back blinking fast at Bobby, sitting down with a thunk and staring at his food as if it held the answers. Then when he had it all settled a smile began to creep at the corners of his mouth. She was kind of cute when she was mad. "Real pistol she is," he finally breathed with a chuckle, returning to scarfing up the rest of his breakfast before checking his watch and running out before Bobby could even warn him off his thoughts. He had work to do.

888

**1:25PM**

She had found her way in the stacks of cars in the salvage yard from leaving the house many hours ago and parked herself in one car in particular. A red Corolla with the front doors missing and in-grown grass in the floor. The seat was weathered and no doubt full of nature but Alex didn't mind as she sat inside the driver's side and had closed her eyes. Alex had been like that most of the time, trying to clear her mind, sleep without dreaming but nothing came. When she had given up on that and about ready to head back to check on her car, her eyes caught what appeared to be a roll in the floor mat on the passenger side. Leaning over and lifting it she removed a shoebox cleverly dug out in the dirt and hidden. Curiosity got the better of her as she looked inside. Memories and trinkets littered the box, like Polaroid's of younger versions of Sam, Dean, Von and herself.

Miscellaneous items including knotted string from what appeared to be a sweater, a shoelace, a pack of cigarettes, a bottle cap from a bottle of liquor with the name scratched off, a roll of condoms...she rolled her eyes and then stopped, picking up a cassette tape with a mix of songs from High School. Biting the inside of her cheek she thought and stared, hearing a curse and clang coming from across the yard and closer to the house she quickly dropped it back in and put it where it had been found. Their time capsule they had left behind. She had forgotten about it.

Alex stood and headed back, turning the corner of a pile she saw that Trevor was rubbing the back of his head with his eyes shut and hissing. Licking her lips she slowly came to lean against the wall as she stared at him. "Sorry about snapping at you earlier."

Trevor opened his eyes and looked at her, he quickly tried to recover and look as if he was fine and working but only managed to drop the tool he had in his hand onto his foot. "Sweet Lord damn it to Hell!"

"Wow, that is a pretty hefty curse."

"Yeah, well just don't tell my mom. I'll be payin' for that in laundry loads for a month. Not normal loads, the delicates to be precise."

_Hey, he's kind of funny. Make him flounder all over you again Alex._

"Actually if you don't mind, can you get me somethin' to drink and an Asprin from inside? That would be a great help."

Alex swallowed and looked at the back of the house. _Of course it would._

Fighting the inner nature, she nodded and headed for it. A get in and get out deal. Although once inside she found that it wasn't necessarily that easy. Standing in the hallway she stared at the four people having a reunion. _Well, well, well. Our luck is just turning down right peachy._

Sam had taken the drive to Sioux Falls with a slight nap and trying to hide his body's reaction to lack of blood. When they arrived in town and managed to get through and pull up to Bobby's was when the shaking stopped in his hand and guilt took over. He was about to come face to face with Bobby and explain how he was sorry that he up and left. Though, heading to the door and inside he was given a big mouthful of how he was an idjit and a bear hug. He was home again. It never failed to hit him when he visited Bobby. His eyes caught a person far behind the hunter and he could have sworn it was Ruby with the hair only when he focused clearly and let Bobby take in the other two that he realized it wasn't her but someone else. Familiar and yet...

"Alex?" Taking a couple strides he went to her and hugged her. How could he not from one of his best friends from High School? Man was she short. Sam chuckled and set her back down and took her in. Older but still as breath taking as before, she really filled out into her body being the height she was though. Seeing her he felt a jolt enter him that he recognized whenever around Ruby and he smiled. "Long time. How have you been?"

"Um...S-s-Sam? I...what are you doing here?"

"Do you hear yourself Tatiani? What are _you_ doing here? I remember things didn't end so well the last time."

"Yeahhhh. About that. My car broke down and I'm stuck until it gets fixed."

He didn't say anything to her as he nodded, turning to face the rest with her as he walked to them, arm on her shoulders he could tell she was uncomfortable. Had she really changed that much? Looking down at her he could tell that was a yes. His hand even tingled like he was touching electricity at a tolerable therapeutic level. His heart had even picked up and he swallowed long and hard. It made his curiosity grow about Alex and just how much she had changed from the sensations. He really needed to get in contact with Ruby, or the being around old friends, especially Von and Alex was starting to mess with old memories and emotions. Because from what he could tell he felt an obvious attraction towards both of them.

_Now I am turning into Dean for sure._

An electric shiver zig-zagged up Von's spine and it made her feel horribly uncomfortable. This new found connection with Sam was testing her nerves, there had always been a curious silent bond between them from what Von could remember, but nothing close to this. There came a tightness in her chest that she could not calmly breathe away and she found she was slowly backing away from the gathering of friends. "It's getting crowded in here," she quietly said not caring if anyone had heard and exited the house to escape the group of people and to get some fresh air but it was more to get away from all of them. It was difficult to be around them again for so many different reasons, Von could list some but many were intangible things that had no rational reason or names attached to them.

_Am I capable of doing this?_ She thought to herself with a mournful stare at the long grass taking up the back end of an old Volkswagen.

Leaning up against an old post that used to serve as a utility pole before newer ones were built outside of Bobby's property she continued her introspection of the grass. That was until several curses coming from the direction of the garage caught her ear and she went to investigate, making a stop to grab a couple of items from the back of her car before she did so. Von found Trevor, in a miserable state of battered pride and bruises. She had never spoken much with the boy, only seeing him enough to know that Bobby had hired him on to help out in the yard. Trevor didn't know a ghost from a ghoul and it was amazing that it had stayed that way for so long, for all Trevor knew Bobby was some surly drunk yet kind hearted old coot that ran a salvage yard and had an eccentric collection of old books. Not many believed in the supernatural until it was breathing in their face and Bobby was taking on a risk by having Trevor so close to his affairs. Von had shared that opinion on more than one occasion.

"Here." A faint ringing started in Von's ears but she ignored it as she handed the young man a bottle of water and two extra strength Aspirin. There was something naive, almost animal like about Trevor. He was a good natured kid but stubborn once he had his mind set on something, even if that something was going to get him into a world of trouble and hurt. "You should stop while you're ahead, she's only going to give you trouble."

_Like I should be giving anyone relationship advice_, _but he should know who to steer clear from_.

"I'm not talking about the car either."

Trevor took the items with gratitude and nearly choked on his water when Von mentioned what she did. Whenever he was around her she always seemed to know what he was thinking or what was going on with him. Swallowing and wiping his lips he placed the water down and ran a rag along his forehead to remove sweat and grease. "Since when did you become me mom?" he stopped and his face fell and he immediately apologized. "I'm sorry about that Von. I didn't mean it. I'm just a little stressed. Whatever I do with the car somethin' else goes wrong that was perfectly fine. As for Alex...I know. But I can't help it. There is just somethin' about her. You know that feeling? The one where you find someone that interests you? Like a damn firework in my brain." He turned to fix the car again and then quickly turned his head. "Don't tell my mom I just said damn."

He had to be cautious. It was always the ones that were older than him and lived in the neighborhood that he had to beg to not say anything. Trevor wished his uncle was here then he could get away with it because then Noah would be flying all over the place. He snickered only shout in pain as the radiator suddenly turned red hot and burned his forearm.

Stepping away from the car he threw the rag at the ground. "I swear this thing is possessed." Breathing in through his teeth he gripped his arm and moved to the water bottle, pouring it slowly over the soon to be scar. "So, didn't think you'd be back so soon. Any new adventures you wanna share to a senior in High School that can't go anywhere but Minnesota?"

_What the hell is happening?_

"Don't worry, your secret's safe," Von's reassuring smile turned stale when the ringing in her ears intensified. Massaging her fingers into her temples she winced and squeezed her eyes shut. The pain was becoming unbearably sharp and the sound was deafening to the point she wasn't sure she was yelling at Trevor or not. "I need you to go get Bobby, just Bobby okay?" When she saw the young man hesitate, concern drawing his young handsome features she yelled, "Just go!"

Keen whistling was drilling itself into Von's eardrums making her disoriented and unable to think straight. The noise was crippling in its severity, Von curled into a ball with her head wedged between her legs, close to the ground her feet were planted on. The Camaro's hood suddenly slammed down and the bulk of the car was shoved forcefully to the other end of the garage, clattering against a tool bench and several lengths of chain used as hoists.


	7. Secrets and Mistrust

_Damn._

Dean shook his head in disbelief, and just when he thought he was never going to see Alex again at least not for a long damn time here she was at Bobby's, another unlikely event and with Sam hanging off of her like everything was right in the world. By the looks of it Sam appeared to be the only one that was genuinely glad to see Alex, or at least he wasn't holding a grudge about it. Sam always tried to be friendly to everyone, Dean had always teased Alex because he was too good at being the resident asshole, especially to people who thought their shit smelled like roses, which had been Alex's attitude. At least back then. And Von, well, she wasn't keen on ingratiating herself with anyone and had always preferred the company of no one.

"Have you said sorry to Bobby yet?" was the only thing that Dean could get to pass his lips and when Sam gave a look the elder Winchester shrugged. "The guy deserves an apology for what you put him through."

"Dean, I can handle my own issues, I don't need ya to be holdin' my hand over it," the elder hunter griped but again Dean only shrugged and moved into the kitchen to get a beer. "What happened to yer hand anyway?", Bobby eyed the bandages on Dean's hand and could immediately tell that the damage was deep.

"I smashed a fireball into a succubus' face," Dean chugged a mouthful of the refreshing golden brew and licked the moisture from his lip. "It seemed like an awesome idea at the time," he ended with no small amount of sarcasm which earned him a warning glare from Bobby.

"It's good to see you all together again," the elder's drawl was filled with sincerity but a dose of sarcasm as well, as if the gang getting back together wasn't all it was cracked up to be and he had hoped that if the four of them ever did reunite it would have been under better circumstances.

Alex glared and she stepped out of the homey feel of Sam's arm to where the guys where. Sam following behind knowing how this was going to turn out the moment Dean spoke. Like always. Stepping in front of her and cutting her off before the words could come out he spoke up. "Learned not to do that after, especially when Von fixed it."

_Awwww chihuahua got muzzled._

Licking her lips she moved to Sam's side once again and didn't open her mouth. She should have known that was what Dean was going to say about Bobby and she wanted to do everything to put him in his place but Sam had that way of stopping her, calming her down even now. It was a little weird and made her almost want to go ahead with the apology. Almost.

_You know you were in the wrong back then._

Now she was getting parented by _it_? It was just too fucked up. But before she could even turn the thought away to forget her mouth was moving without her permission. "Dean's right Bobby..." That seemed to make everyone stop and stare at her. "I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for what I said last night."

_There, now don't you just feel the love in the room?_

Alex's mouth hung open slightly as if she couldn't believe what was said when really it looked like it took so much of her to say it. She wanted to bite and scream and kick and all she could do was stand there. There had been no sarcasm in between the lines, there had only been that thing using her to make her say that Dean Winchester was right. She was not going to live that down as long as she was there. Sam on the other hand thought he had witnessed a miracle as if he had seen an angel come before him and tell him that the world was great and not like the Hell it was. Speechless and blown away he finally managed to clear his throat. "Well then," he paused, inhaling and looking at his brother and Bobby who were still staring at Alex in disbelief. It wasn't everyday after all when they heard an apology from Alex Tatiani. Though as he went to continue his mind went blank, blinking to gain a thought he raised his hands and let them flop down to his sides. He was at a loss.

On the other hand, Alex decided she felt way too uncomfortable and opened the fridge and grabbed a much needed beer. Taking a long pull from it and nearly draining the entire bottle she ran her hand through her hair. "So, let me get this straight."

_Back on track. Can't even soak in the moment._

"You got Sam after running into me with Von and my car just happens to have a shit attack so close to where I need to be and seems to be getting worse, and now the gang is somehow back together? I'm missing something aren't I? It seems I am. I may not be psychic but I can tell that the atmosphere is full of an untold story. Now I also know my car pretty damn well and all of these meetings are a little fishy. Someone please start speaking and tell me what the fuck is going on?" Her eyes looking half pleadingly from Sam to Bobby and finally to Dean.

Dean was completely dumbfounded and his face expressed as much. "What are the chances of you saying that again on camera?" he asked.

Sure that Alex was going to come back with some fiery retort Dean began to seriously consider her questions, they were adding up for all of them. It had to be more than a coincidence that in less than forty eight hours the four of them were back together, well in the same area, especially since most of them preferred to go their own way. Those thoughts were momentarily forgotten when the back door swung open with a bang and brought their attention to Trevor. Bobby's frown was deep set and he gazed at Trevor like a concerned father would his son, "What is it?"

"It's Von. She's having another one of her headaches again Bobby. She said to get you. And only you Bobby," he spoke, eyes flicking to the others. The moment her name slipped from his mouth, Bobby was heading for the door and telling him to stay inside, all of them...especially Trevor. And Trevor knew all too well never to disobey Bobby. His attention shifted to the two new guys in the room with Alex once the door shut and he instantly felt a disliking towards them. He wasn't sure why, but they put him on edge. Shaking it off, he was raised to be a polite southern boy and a smile appeared on his face. "Howdy. My name is Trevor McMillan, I live next door. Pleased to meet you."

Hand out towards the first one he was closest to which happened to be Dean, Alex couldn't help but pucker her lips as she went back to her beer bottle. Served Dean right to have to deal with the one thing that he never knew how to handle all too well after what he said about the camera. Sam on the other hand found Trevor interesting and he couldn't help but smile. The kid reminded him a little of himself and his brother when they were his age. And when Dean didn't raise up to shaking the kid's hand, he moved in front and took it. "I'm Sam and this is my brother Dean. We're old friends of Bobby's."

Trevor nodded his head. His eyes flicked to the kitchen window where he knew Bobby was taking care of Von and he had to admit his curiosity always got him but he never spied. He'd had too many lessons learned from that when he was younger. "So y'all know each other?" he hinted towards the window and to Alex.

Alex stepped forwards and stepped in front of Dean to throw away her beer bottle, she raised her brows at him. "Oh you could say that." Slowly she stole his beer from his hand and moved back to where she had stood and where Sam was back to standing. She figured he could do without it as his grip nearly broke the bottle. Why waste a good beer?

"Well, anyways, while I'm in here," Trevor moved to the fridge and grabbed a beer, he went to pop the cap to take a drink, that urge to show Alex that he was like the ones she was around. Not getting to as the one named Dean removed it from his hands and took it as his own he looked a little defeated. So much for fitting in. "Your car might have to stay here for a while longer Alex. Whatever is wrong with it is going to take me a few weeks at most...so what do y'all do? You hunters like Bobby?" Feeling the tension rise in the room he furrowed his brows a bit at it. "You know, bears and deer? I've seen the kind he hauls back for a barbeque now and then."

_This boy is going to be interesting to work around._

_Nice try kid_, was the precise definition on Dean's face as he took a swig of the beer he held in his left hand.

It wasn't that he had an issue with Trevor, not at first glance at any rate, but he was wondering what Bobby had in his head to think that keeping a civilian around was a good thing. Then his thoughts went to Von and the way in which Trevor was sent to grab Bobby for help and the stern insistence from the old man that they all keep their asses planted in the house. Could it be that it was Von's psychic whatever that was acting up? Then Dean's mind strayed into memories of Hell and the mystery of how he became topside. His brain was feeling crowded and he wished everything would shut the hell up. No one really seemed to know how to answers Trevor's question, it was simple enough but held more complications than someone like Trevor would ever realize.

Dean casually shrugged and moved to take a seat on one of the kitchen chairs, "Oh yeah, that's what we do." He smiled at the guy and drank his beer. While in the back of his mind, _gheezus had Bobby spun one hell of a yarn to this kid_. "Has he ever taken you out hunting?" He wasn't expecting Trevor to understand the double meaning, that was not unless he was in on the whole 'monsters are as real as you and me' bit. Dean was betting his instincts were right and Trevor had no damn clue what any of them really did, of course that could make things a lot more interesting than they needed to be.

Trevor screwed up his face in thought. "Well, only a couple times and that was when I was younger. I used to go with my Uncle, my dad and Bobby but all we ever got were pheasants and the occasional rabbit. I am not that good at it. I'm more of a mechanic than one to shoot guns," he laughed a little his eyes shining at the memories. "He used to go with them after they all realized I wasn't a hunter."

"Used to?" Sam asked.

"A year ago my dad died and ever since they haven't gone. Hunting accident. Just my uncle, my dad and I. The last time I ever tried to take up the hobby."

Sam nodded, he understood but he could tell that the kid had no idea about what Bobby really did. It was a little strange that Bobby would be so close to a family that didn't know that part of him. But then again every hunter had a little semblance of normality in their lives or had it at one point in time. It was obvious that the McMillan's where that for Bobby when the Winchesters grew older. Just then a ringing interrupted the room coming from Trevor's pocket and he pulled it out, flipping it open and sighing. "Mom, I told you, you don't need to call me when I'm at Bobby's. I can hear you yell if you just stick your head out the window." A pause. "What? There was no earthquake." ... "I promise." ... "The baby Jesus did what now?"

Alex snickered a little.

"Fine, fine, I'll be over in two shakes. Just put the bible and salt down." Trevor hung up and felt a little awkward at the faces that were trying not to laugh. He had to admit his mom could get a little on the crazy side now and then but that was what mom's did sometimes. "I'll have to excuse myself. Nice meetin' y'all."

The minute he left through the front door, Alex burst into laughter. "Better than television."

Sam shook his head and gave a chuckle. "Though it does make me curious as to what the baby Jesus did."

"No kidding."

Alex stopped laughing and just smiled as she stared at Sam. It had been a long time since she felt like this. That she a friend to laugh and talk to and she remembered all the good times with Sam. Hell, she missed him and being around him was softening her shell just a little.

888

"Von?" Bobby closed the space between them and crouched down to see Von visibly shaking and close to screaming from all the sounds she was making. He had seen her during some pretty rough patches but nothing quite like this. Above them equipment started to rattle and move on its own and the elder knew it was Von influencing the workings, he also knew he had to get her out of here soon and into some fresh air.

"Make it stop!" she howled and the entire garage rattled with her voice as if a gale wind slapped up against it.

Without a question Bobby grabbed her up and hauled her out into the yard out of sight from the house, and pulled her far enough away until she finally calmed down. With the amount of noise she was making and the angry but short lived dust devil her energy had kicked up he'd be blessed if not a single one in the house had heard it. Von's bleary tear rimmed eyes blinked up at Bobby now that the noise had cleared, bringing her shaky hands down from her ears she tried to calm her rapid breathing. Her head hurt so much she couldn't stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks.

"There was all this ringing, and this feeling, this terrible awful feeling," she sniffed and wiped her nose on her long sleeve shirt. There was still a faint ringing in her ears and she knew that it wasn't going to leave anytime soon, at least the agonizing volume of it was gone.

"I didn't hear anything," Bobby had to admit, "was it part of a vision, when did it start?"

888

"It's in there!" Von insisted, struggling to stand only to fall back down when a wave of dizziness crashed into her and sent her on her ass. The air around her pushed against the natural breeze but not enough to do any real harm. Her exclamation did not come from Bobby's lack of faith in her story, he believed her and was dead set on figuring out whatever it was that was causing trouble on his property. It came from her volatile temper, her stubbornness to get back in there and kick the thing's ass though it scared her more than any kind of creature had for some time, and Von knew that whatever it was it was trying to conceal its power which made it more terrifying than she would want to admit.

"Ya gotta breathe Von, just breathe, whatever's in there we'll get it sorted."

The elder leaned against the chassis of a newer model Toyota and studied the garage he had dragged the red head from. All Von had to go on was that when she entered the garage she felt that there was someone else aside from Trevor and not long after the ringing in her ears started, like a tea kettle it only got louder, especially after Trevor burnt himself on the radiator. And then the sheer oppressive force of the energy began to close in and that was when she really started to freak out and her telekinesis flared up. Von sucked in a breath and held onto it for a short minute before letting it go, it didn't make her feel any better.

"Sam and Alex don't know about this," Von gestured to herself with a sigh.

"What exactly do ya plan on tellin' 'em then?" Bobby didn't like that Von was wanting to keep a difficult secret from people who were supposed to be her friends but for now he would keep his mouth shut about it. Von knew Bobby disapproved of her method of going about the situation and it made her frown but she wasn't comfortable with announcing it, Dean was never meant to know either but he had pressed Bobby into giving up that information.

"We tell them that something was hurting Trevor and slammed Alex's car into the wall," the red head explained.

Bobby's eyebrows went up, "It slammed her car into the wall?" He knew what kind of reaction that was going to draw from Alex and it wasn't a pretty one.

"Well, I did that. But it was causing the car to react badly to Trevor."

"Gheezuz, Von." The elder scratched the back of his ball cap.

"I know, okay? I know," Von said in earnest.

She needed a minute to gain her bearings before she tried to stand again. Since Bobby hated the thought of lying to the others about all the details of what occurred in the garage then Von would tell them. She didn't want to put Bobby through that and she didn't want to receive those guilt inducing looks that he would cast at her from under his ball cap. One of Von's concerns was that Sam might already be formulating some suspicions that Von was a psychic just as she had similar suspicions regarding him. Sam was always one of the smartest ones in the group so she was going to have to be careful around him. The thought made her a little queasy with guilt but she would get over it, the darkness she felt in him would allow her to overcome the delicate feelings she had regarding damaging Sam's emotions.

Half an hour passed before Von forced her legs to carry her to the door and inside to where the others were still gathered around, actually making small talk to an awkward degree. Not inclined to make herself comfortable Von began. "Something's causing trouble in the garage, it was using Alex's car to hurt Trevor before it dragged the Camaro to the other end of the building."

"Something, what?" Dean asked and leaned forward with more attention to the red head. Von shrugged and replied that she didn't know, only that it was strong enough to haul a car, she was more surprised that it never tried to do more to Trevor or to herself.

"WHAT?!" Alex shouted, on her feet she looked from Bobby to Von. "My car? My fucking car! I think I'm going to pass out."

Sam unconsciously put his hand on Alex's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her and calm her down as he stared at Von. She was lying. Well, partially and he didn't know how he knew but it unsettled him. Could he even trust her if she was being so evasive with them? Sure he wasn't any better but he barely knew her anymore, Dean was his brother and as far as he was concerned she had flared red on his radar. "Really? Well, I guess we should find out what it was."

"Yeah so then I can kill it," Alex agreed.

_It's just a car._

It wasn't just a car, it was her life after her parents. After Hell and it was everything great about being on her own for so long. Now it was probably reduced to scrap metal unless Trevor could pull some magic out of a hat. Alex managed to calm down a little though when she tried to think what could possibly be wanting to mess with her car to hurt a kid and then mess up Von? "Well it would make sense why I landed here. My car hasn't had any problems and it just did, whatever it is must be working us all as well. Von, are you sure you didn't get any kind of hint as to what it could be?"

_Yeah Von, any idea...something you might be keeping from us?_ Sam thought.

He knew. Sam Winchester knew that Von was lying. That clarified a few things for the fair skinned psychic. Not many would have been able to see past her bluff, not unless they possessed some impressive gifts of their own. That damaged any trust there might have been between them but Von couldn't be burdened with that concern right now, they had to formulate a plan about how to deal with the thing in the garage. "There were no cold spots, and no sulphur smell, considering it pushed Alex's car down the building I'd say its attacks on Trevor were pretty mediocre. There was also a noise, this sharp whistling like a tea kettle was going to explode." Von remained calm under the pressure of Sam's blue-green orbs and in the off chance that he could really pick up on anything more than she wasn't telling the whole truth she put a wall up in her mind that would have stopped him from getting any further.

"So whatever this thing is it's either a lightweight or it's saving its juice for something else, so has anyone heard of a monster that likes to bully young impressionable mechanics and whistle at attractive red heads?" Dean questioned with a final swig of his beer.

Von tried not to roll her eyes, he was never going to stop, was he? All the more reason for Von to distance herself from the man. Dean left the rest of his beer and shrugged as he approached and passed Von towards the door. A little color coming to her pale freckled cheeks she turned and walked after him, "Where are you going?"

"To the garage," Dean answered incredulously as if it was the most obvious thing in the world to confront whatever was causing the problem head on. Of course for Dean it was the most obvious thing to do, couldn't find out what they were dealing with otherwise.

To Von's relief and surprise when the two of them entered the garage the source of the ringing appeared to be gone for the red head's sensitive ears gave no signs of exploding in her skull from that extremely high octave. Dean and Von only entered a couple steps further before she spoke, "I'd appreciate that you not tell Sam or Alex about my...talents."

Dean opened his mouth to reply when the rest of the crew entered the building, without missing a beat the hunter chucked his thumb behind his back while looking at Alex, "Wanna check out your car?" He couldn't quite understand why Von wanted to be hush-hush about her psychic abilities among people who were supposed to be her friends, but Dean would keep silent. Until he had a chance to speak with her and find out what was really going on.

Alex ignored Dean, she caught the attempt at flirting with Von and it surprised her a bit. Then again looking at Von she did admit she looked great. Shaking her head and moving past him she went to where her car now resided. It was a sad sight, she almost wanted to fall to her knees before it. Alex turned to face the others. "How are we supposed to figure this out? We know it isn't a ghost especially since it's Bobby's property. Not a demon."

"We could be dealing with something new. It seems like we are being tracked or something along those lines." Then it hit him. "Do you think it could be what took you out of Hell?" Sam asked.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Took him out of Hell? You were in fucking Hell?"

_Hell buddies!_

Shrugging off that other parts thought she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She knew how bad Hell could be...at least she thought she knew. She could guess as she couldn't exactly remember what happened. The only parts she remembered was finding her parents and giving in to them after finding out what she was, then Kayden, being killed by them and brought back. Everything else, whatever bad things she went through or did, she couldn't grasp them in her memory. Alex felt a pull to talk to him about it, to see if he didn't remember either. But then what would that mean? It wasn't like she could get answers from him as he was in way later than she was and most likely under different circumstances.

"Never mind. So you went to Hell and something pulled you out. That would have been great to know considering that since I ran into you guys weirder shit than normal has been happening." Her hand flew in the direction to her car and around the area to signal the whole gang.

Sam understood where she was coming from. He kind of just let the words fly, but at the same time he would have told her anyways. She was his friend and she was now part of the situation too. No secrets. Unlike Von right now. Maybe he'd tell Alex about what had been going on with him, she might be the only one who understands where he was coming from unlike his brother. He knew where Dean stood on Ruby and Von wasn't to be trusted until she gave him something worth trusting. He couldn't even pull up any kind of thing from her when he looked in her direction and that just raised more red flags in his book.

"We still don't know what did it and now would be a great time to find out. I say we start looking through books and making calls," he voiced.

"Weirder shit's been happening before that," Von replied, "all over the world in fact, something big is happening and Dean coming back from Hell is just one of the many signs that have been cropping up over the past few months. In fact ever since the Devil's Gate in Wyoming was cracked open, unusual events have escalated, not only demonic occurrences but every other type of ghost and monster out there too." Von began to walk past Alex and Sam, feeling a twinge between her shoulder blades told her that Sam was trying to get a read off of her of some kind. He could try all he wanted, he wasn't going to get one hint of what she was as long as she held the wall in her mind. That was really the only part of her abilities that she had mastered, that of hiding. Looking behind her at the group as she stood on the threshold of the garage door. "Someone still has to take Dean to the hospital."

"I'm fine," Dean protested in annoyance.

"You're not fine, your hand was this close to becoming a piece of charcoal and none of us here are actual doctors so you need to go see one," Von argued.

Neither one of the hunters showed any sign of backing down; even as Von faced that deadly flame awakening in Dean's eyes and the freckled splatter of blood on his face that none of the others could see. Dean hated hospitals and so did Von, but the red head feared that Dean would lose his hand if it wasn't properly seen to by a professional. Von wasn't sure how long the stand-off lasted but Dean eventually walked past all of them and out of the garage. "Fine, but we're taking my car and I'm the one that's driving," he relented with a grumble.

Von's frame relaxed and she exhaled in relief as if she had been holding her breath, to be honest even though she tried she wasn't sure if she would ever not find that wild and bloody image of Dean disarming. She never knew when it was going to happen because there was no real trigger to it, she was just glad that he left so the image would leave with him. Yet she did not linger in the doorway with the others, instead Von followed Dean in the direction of his Impala and a short while after she heard two sets of strides, one longer and one shorter crunching on the gravel.

"Don't you think it's kinda overkill if I have three people walk me into the hospital? And like Sam said, research to do."

"Who said anything about three people taking you to the hospital?" Alex voiced in. "I'm staying here."

Sam glanced from Alex to his brother and then stopped on Von. He was concerned about his brothers hand and he didn't trust Von but there was that niggling voice in the back of his head that said he should trust her to be with him for the hospital. Also he wanted to do some research and grill Bobby on Von. What she has been doing lately and other things. "You're right. You two go and call if anything happens."

The two of them veered away from Von and Dean while Bobby slowly came to a stop by the two leaving. Alex entered the familiar house first and into the study with Sam following. "That must've been a big deal for you."

"What?"

"Saying that to Dean in front of Von."

Sam blinked. "What makes you think that?"

"Well for one," she paused as she picked out a few books that looked a good place to start, "your whole body tightens whenever she speaks. Is there some kind of lingering sexual tension from the teen years that I don't know about or do you just get a fire poker up your ass from distrust?"

He laughed and shook his head. Alex could always read him that apparently never changed. Picking up a few books on his own they moved to the couch. Laying them out they began to flip through them as they spoke. "I am not sure how to respond to that."

"Oh sure you do Sam."

"It's just...there is something off about Von. I don't know what it is, maybe that hunter intuition that people keep yammering about."

Alex pierced her lips together and looked at him. "So what you are saying is that you don't trust her. You think she's hiding something."

Sam flipped through a page and ran his other hand through his hair. "You could say that."

"Well you aren't alone. At least not entirely."

That calmed him. His shoulders loosened and he gave a smile out of the corner of his mouth. All talk about Von went silent the moment that Bobby entered the house to join them and they got to research. Even when he couldn't get a tune being hummed throughout his head that wouldn't stop. Almost lulling and yet irritating. Grabbing a few beers for everyone it helped to drown it out so he could concentrate, despite his hand beginning to shake and the phone in sight out of the corner of his eye.

888

"I'm surprised he allowed me to go with you," Von saw Dean raising an eyebrow. "He doesn't trust me, then again you don't really trust me either," she added as if that made everything more clear. Dean hated it when Von was vague, but he hated it even more when she was cryptic, in fact it was her cryptic message that got his hand fucked up in the first place. If she had actually told him or written down what those damn marbles did he might not have smashed it into the succubus' face without a second thought.

"Who doesn't trust you...Sam?" Dean scoffed at the notion. Little Sammy used to worship the ground Von walked on, it was all secret and quietly practiced but Dean knew the signs that his young brother had a big crush on the girl that was a lot taller than he was, or used to be. There couldn't be a reason in the world why Sam wouldn't completely trust Von, even after the years that passed. They always had a peculiar and silent bond. "What surprises me is that he could still function after seeing you." He flicked his green orbs Von's way and saw the somber expression on her face mixed with faint embarrassment. Right, he wasn't supposed to flirt with her. Dean couldn't help that it came automatically, naturally when he saw a pretty face and a great pair of legs. Von was different than those other girls though, very, very different and yet that strangely didn't matter to Dean so much. "I trust you enough," Dean said at length, that was all he could give her. They had all grown up and been through enough to have killed or driven most people insane and Dean was sure that each one of them had gotten close to that point during their lives. There was one thing though that caught Dean's attention and he felt dumb for not noticing when it should have been obvious, because if he had seen it he would have told Sam to back off. "How come you think Sam doesn't trust you?" Dean had a feeling it was her ESP that was picking up the bad vibe, then he started to wonder what she was reading from him. If she could see what Hell had done to him.

"I can feel it. His energy, the looks he gives me. He can tell I'm keeping something from him and he doesn't like that, so he mistrusts me. I just want to protect myself, I don't think it's right that I should have to announce to everyone that I'm psychic. Bobby has a soft spot for you Dean, which I think is why he told you even though he knew I'd be pissed at him. I know what you must be thinking, how can Sam tell?" Von did not want to have this conversation, it went into sensitive and uncomfortable territory and Von did not wish to poke and prod Dean when he was still so raw from emerging from The Pit. Dean would not allow her to back out of it now, whatever she had to say she had to say it, he would never let it drop until she did. "I suspect he's psychic, or has psychic leanings."

"Sam hasn't had anything like that since...for a while now," Dean corrected himself. Von didn't have to know about the Yellow-Eyed demon, unless she already did. He was going to be royally pissed if she started reading his mind to find out. He swore he'd be the one to bite her first if that happened.

"Abilities like that don't disappear Dean, it's possible if he had a trigger that it's gone, but that doesn't stop him from having what he was born with," she frowned.

She was sorry the topic came up, she should have kept her mouth shut and her thoughts to herself. Von did not want to turn one brother against the other or cause Dean to relive past nightmares about Sam's fate or future worries that they were far from clearing the woods on that problem. The red head was loathe to view a person with psychic powers as a problem or the powers themselves as a problem but with Dean regarding Sam it was a problem and a big one. It scared Dean, right down to his core, not knowing what was going to happen to Sam. So many people, even their own father said that Sam might go Dark Side, and if that happened then Sam had to die. That never happened though, and they killed Azazel. So why was this threat rearing its ugly head once more?

"How do you even know?" Dean wanted to remain suspicious, if he could maintain a critical and rational way of thinking than he could keep his mind clear of the fears about Sam that would crowd in around him.

"Because he's hiding something too."

_So dark, it makes my skin crawl with ice._

Von rubbed her right hand absently as the fingers tingled and twitched faintly, recalling how Sam's hand had spasmed with nervous energy and hers had mimicked it. It was a curious sign of a connection, one however that Von would try to prevent from becoming any stronger.

888

Sam had wanted to talk to Bobby about Von but he didn't. He didn't want Bobby to know anything he was thinking about her and it was best he kept his thoughts and concerns and questions to himself. He was smart he could figure it out on his own he was sure. They had both gone through a few books when Alex snapped her hand out to rest on his shaking hand to stop it. It was frustrating. She couldn't concentrate. When she touched his skin she jerked, her body went upright and she gave a small yelp as she reared her hand back. Rubbing it to get the sensation away, she felt Sam staring at her. "I'm going to go upstairs. You still have some books stowed away up there Bobby?" she asked.

Standing and moving she saw his head nod at the desk and that was answer enough for her. Alex climbed the steps, trying to shake the feeling of electricity that was running through her fingers. The question of what was that going over and over in her brain as she made her way down and didn't see where she was heading until she shut herself in one of the bedrooms. Running her hand through her hair she brought her left one up and stared at it. Stopping in her pacing she was doing she noticed it was the hand that she had scarred permanently. The one hand that she couldn't feel anything in from her cutting the lines and destroying the nerves in it. Not able to feel anything that touched it and yet she had felt that and could still feel it.

"Do you have any idea what that was?"

_Nope not a clue. I don't think I've ever experienced that or heard of it to know. Do you think he is special?_

"Special how?"

_You know...you've heard the stories from the other hunters about Sam Winchester in Wyoming. From the infamous Gordon Walker. He was Azazel's special kid...I think at least._

"You don't remember? Fuck, I don't even remember. I just remember that he opened the gates of Hell."

Alex bit her bottom lip. "Fill me in on the whole Azazel thing."

_Ah yes, the memory block. I can barely recall myself but if I think hard enough, he had made deals with these families mothers on a certain child in their family that wasn't born yet that it would be his. I'm not a hundred percent certain on the rest. He could be like us._

She whipped around and faced the shut door. "But that isn't possible. Our parents said that it is more complicated. We weren't born human and then given something to give me you. I was born this way. He couldn't be like us...would blood be even enough to give someone a little of demonic ability?"

There was silence. No answer and she was about to scream to speak already when the thoughts flooded. _Just enough and it could. We won't know for sure unless you ask or whatever. Don't know the protocol for a demonic medical exam._

Sam. Little Sam Winchester from her teen years. He couldn't possibly be from part of her area even if minimally. Alex moved back out and down the stairs, past them and outside to where her car was smashed. She needed her bag, she was still on shaky ground with the elder hunter but she wasn't about to stay on the hard ground outside the house or with Trevor and his mom. Trying to search for it she heard footsteps come near and slowly removed her gun from under her backseat as she grabbed hold of the duffel strap and came to face the intruder. Gun pointed at Sam she sighed. Replacing the safety and putting it down and away she moved towards him. "You okay?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well you didn't come down with any books and you didn't say anything as you just came out here. And...before that..."

_He felt it too._

"And...?"

Sam shifted uncomfortably, confusion on his face as he tried to find the words before bringing up his right hand and took hold of her left one. Her bag dropped to the ground and instead of letting go of his hand she gripped tightly. "That, is not normal."

Alex inhaled. "I agree. So what are you?"

_Nice Alex, just insult off the bat._

"I'm Sam and you are?" he chuckled.

"I mean...I've heard things Sam. I've never had this happen before with anyone and now...what happened to you?" Taking her hand away roughly she continued. "What _are_ you?"

"If you've heard things you should know although not everything is true."

"Well then, enlighten me."

Sam paused and stared straight into her blue orbs. Crossing his arms he tightened his jaw. "Only if you share your story too. I'm obviously not the only one that has something going on Alex."


	8. No Going Back

**Sioux Falls General Hospital  
September 21, 2008  
2:45PM**

The doctor had just left, they had talked about options and now the doctor had to find the paperwork for it. Dean was pissed, Von could feel it without the aid of her psychic empathy, while the doctor had been completely oblivious to it. Which was for the best, the less questions the better. Dean's mood stemmed from the information that Von had given him, that Sam might still have psychic powers and that he was hiding them and there were other secrets too. Right now Dean was debating whether he was going to call his brother out on it the moment they got back to Bobby's or wait until an opportunity arose to use the information to Dean's benefit. He wanted to believe that maybe Von was just overreacting, it had been a long time since she had seen Sam or spoken to him and even she had admitted that she didn't have perfect control of her psychic senses.

Dean wanted to give Sam the benefit of the doubt, maybe, just maybe, he would sit on what he had learned until some solid proof came to light. Von had given him what she felt he needed to know, what he did with it was up to him. It must have been hard, to want to hold onto the belief so badly that your brother was incapable of sin and betrayal. Von was afraid those fears would soon become a reality. Von stood by the window, she had opened it to let some air into the small room, to make it feel less closed off. She watched the leaves fan and flicker in the warm breeze. Tomorrow would be the Autumn Equinox, she wasn't much for celebrating anything but Von could appreciate the changing of the seasons.

"Still claustrophobic?"

"I don't think that's something that someone can just get over," Von replied quietly, not breaking her steady gaze out the window.

Dean shrugged, alright, so it was a stupid question. He should have known, whenever Von was upset instead of running to her room like most kids would have done she ran straight outside, didn't matter what the weather was like, could have been pissing rain, she didn't care. Sam and Dean were sent out to find her if they didn't go out automatically and it was Sam that usually found her nestled away in a bush or a tree somewhere on Bobby's property, though Dean had his luck every now and again.

Von opened the window a bit more and breathed in the air, the screen gave it a metallic sting that Von tried to inhale past. "It's going to rain." Von leaned back sounding relieved. Dean's eyebrows knitted together at her announcement then he looked to the window.

"There's not a single cloud out there."

"Trust me, it's going to rain."

888

Alex glared at him and he stared on back. She couldn't tell him. They might have been really close back when they were 16 but this was too fucking crazy to get into. Sure she wanted to know what was going on with him and the touching thing but this was a whole bag of shit that she couldn't have opened and known. Sam could not know what she was and whatever Sam had going on was not worth a share circle. "I'm not the average hunter or human. Let's just put it at that."

Sam didn't want to accept that. He might trust her more than Von but he trusted her about the amount that he trusted Dean. So he nodded and agreed on the same words for himself before he decided to inform her on what had been going on for years on their end and her the same. Though they both left out important parts it was enough. "We should probably head back inside to do more research now that that is out of the way." Together they moved to grab her duffel, brushing their hands against each other and standing up they both dropped it. "Why does that keep happening?"

"I don't know. Maybe that whole not being average part we were talking about."

Swallowing she attempted to reach for the bag again only to get Sam grabbing her hand once more to demonstrate the shocks. The force of the pull on her hand brought her forwards and crashing into his chest. About to yell at him and curse, Alex was stopped by Sam's mouth on hers. The electricity grew and the sound of rain drops slowly starting to fall on the tin roof came as the kiss became heated. Breathing him in, Alex wasn't quite sure what was going on other than she couldn't stop kissing Sam. Her body hummed and her chest couldn't get any closer to him no matter how hard they pressed together. His hands went under her thighs and lifted her up and onto a working table that he cleared off hastily. Frantic kisses and sighs before they separated enough to breathe.

"What the fuck are we doing?" Alex asked. Lips pink and bruised.

Sam answered by placing his hand on the back of her head and entangling it in her long brown hair. His other hand moved to her back, smoothing up and down before massaging her hip. The want was indescribable and it ached through every muscle and bone. Until he shot back from her. A voice was yelling their names and he stared at Alex dazed and confused. Alex leaned against the tin shed siding where she sat and stared back. "Coming Bobby!"

Quickly, she removed herself from the table and ran to her duffel, stalking off before a word could get through as her free hand covered her mouth. Panic ensued. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck._

_Fuck is right Alex. You were so close to up and losing it. Once it's gone there is no going back._

888

**3:30PM**

"I'll be damned," Dean breathed while staring through the windshield as rain clouds started to crawl over the horizon, a light shower had passed over half an hour before when they were still at the hospital as if to signal that more rain would follow.

Von had predicted it accurately enough just by looking at the clear blank sky, Dean teased her and said she would put weather men out of a job. Von was too busy looking over the documents given to them by the doctor to pay attention to Dean's jokes. He was likely going to have to get a skin graph on his palm for sure, in the next two weeks they would have to see how the state of his hand progressed until then he was to have the dressings on the injury changed into fresh ones every day to ensure the skin didn't dry out and remained bacteria free. Considering how things were developing, it might prove difficult to get Dean to the hospital everyday as per the doctor's orders.

They stopped off for food at one of the local joints Dean loved, Von was sure if she held out a map and pointed to every town and city that Dean could name a place he loved to eat at. That was if the town or city was safe enough to return to for another hunt, what was that saying about using toilets..."I'm not hungry," Von stared out the window with a faraway expression on her face.

"You're kidding, I've seen you stuff food in your face like it was trying to run off on you since we've joined up. I even spent the extra two bucks to get you a milkshake." Dean gave her all the food to hang onto while he pulled the Impala out onto the road and back to Bobby's. He glanced at her and had a moment where he thought about asking her how she was doing, instead he thought better of it. Dean still wanted to know why she had been crying that one morning, it had bothered him a lot to see her like that but he didn't know how to go about saying it without sounding like an invasive dick. If it were Sam in his position he'd be all smooth and puppy eyed about it, which would have made most women open up because they instantly trusted Sam's sincerity. Thinking on it he doubted even Sam's puppy eyes would work on Von at this point.

The clouds had settled in nice and thick by the time the two arrived at Bobby's and the rain was already starting to come down. Von did not want to go into the house, instead she wanted to wander, maybe see if whatever it was had returned to the garage. Dean saw her hesitance when he had turned back on the top step after realizing that she wasn't following him, instead she was standing out in the rain staring far off in the distance.

"C'mon Red, you're gonna catch a cold like that," Dean opened the door for them and went inside.

"Red?"

At the sound of the front door opening Alex was relieved. She couldn't stand the awkward silence between her and Sam any longer. More importantly she made a point at sitting far away from him when she had returned inside. Fully immersed in books she turned the next page when the two travelers entered. "What the fuck..." Her voice caught their attention in their asking questions on how things went and if they found anything. Looking up and standing, she frantically moved to the desk beside Bobby placing his book before him. "I doubt you burn random pages out of your books. It's completely gone."

Sam narrowed his eyes from the couch and glanced down at his book. Flipping a couple pages he found a couple pages with charred remains behind. "Even weirder is that I was about to say that I think I was getting close to something. But it just ends here."

"Whatever it was was important and we might have needed it." Looking towards Von and Dean she took in the bandage on Dean's hand out of the corner of her eye all the while ignoring Sam's insistent stare on her back, shaking her head in disbelief. "Any idea what this thing could be?"

_I think I might..._

Alex opened her mouth and almost asked right then and there to spill but stopped when she noticed Von's eyes on her very intently. Even if she was on her own and asked she doubted she'd get an answer from that part of her.

Von frowned; something strange had gone on when she and Dean were at the hospital. Whatever had occurred it was transmitting a strange tense electricity between Sam who was just shy of her peripheral and Alex whom she had both eyes on. Alex was practically squirming under her gaze, Von sensed that what happened between the two brunettes was not something that Alex had been proud of. "Any luck with finding anything?" Von asked as she set her bag down and noted the charred pages of Alex's book. She had overheard part of the conversation leading up to the disgruntled expression on Bobby's face. By the looks of things they had found something, but not what they were searching for intentionally.

"Seems somethin' don't want us gettin' too close to it. These books never had a single page out of 'em. Now there's pages missin' outta all of 'em," the elder huffed in frustration and pushed the book away. Bobby was reaching near the end of his patience, but he couldn't come up with another solution to figure out what they were dealing with.

"Doesn't sound like it's playing fair. Why can't we just summon the damn thing here and get this over with?" Dean moved next to Von to gaze at the ruined book though he had no idea what he was looking for.

Von's left arm began to tingle and she moved away from Dean to examine the book from another angle when Bobby replied. "Yeah, that's a great idea, save for the fact we don't know what the hell it is. Idjit."

"The thing was powerful enough to yank you from Hell. I don't know anything that can do that, bringing it here might not be a good idea," Von added.

"What if we used every symbol or whatever to contain it if we bring it here? We don't know what it is but we need to know and why it is messing with us. It might just work. At least we would be taking precautions against anything and everything," Alex voiced.

She hated how Von was scrutinizing her. It wasn't her fault what had happened earlier, not that Von knew about that but it wasn't. Whatever it was it couldn't have been her...it had to be Sam. What he wasn't telling her, it was the only solution. She moved away when Sam came forward and settled herself near Dean as if he was a brick wall with a steel barrier. Sam took in the movement and stared down at the page. "Is it worth a try?" he asked, his eyes meeting Bobby's. No way in Hell was he asking Von with the trust on thin ice.

He had no idea what had happened in that shed and he was willing to put it aside for now despite the electricity he still felt. The want to continue what had been left off but it confused him. He had to focus on this, he needed to. They needed answers, there had to be a reason they were all here together in one place and why Dean had come back from Hell. Sam was happy and all but it was a little too fishy on him being topside again. If they tried they could get hurt extremely bad or killed, and if they didn't they would never know if it worked in their favor rather than against them. However he wanted to hear the say so before doing anything, maybe if it was voted as a no he could find a way to do it, though he doubted he'd be able to now that he was around his brother and a suspicious red head.

"I guess neither one if ya just heard what me and Von just said. We have no idea what it is we're dealin' with. Sure it did some low level stuff in my garage when it could've killed Trevor or Von. All it had to do was move that car in the right direction and it would've crushed them," Bobby retorted. He understood the severity, this could be the answer they were looking for but he wasn't about to risk the lives of these kids and go in blind looking for it. At least not until push came to shove and the kids stopped listening to him.

"Well, what're we gonna do then Bobby? We can't just sit here with our thumbs up our asses and wait for your entire library to go up in smoke." Dean couldn't see any other way other than to confront the creature face to face. He hadn't been blind to the intense but brief look Von had given Alex and wondered what that was all about. Dean also needed to work through the shock of Sam sounding willing to give the summoning a try. "I thought for sure you'd be telling us this was wrong since we have no clue what the fuck this thing is. What happened to thinking first before plunging in?" Von could hear the subtle tone in Dean's voice, he was accusing Sam of more than he was letting on. Since the Winchesters were so close Von did not doubt for a second that Sam caught on to that same tone. Lifting her studied gaze from the book she took in Sam's expression and she could see so much more than anyone else in the room could fathom.

"That went out the window when you died," Sam answered, his eyes steady and he hated how he missed that part of him. But in a way he had to think like other hunters, like his brother to get things done, otherwise he wasn't getting anywhere. His attention moved to the elder hunter waiting for his own answer from Dean's first question. "If you have any better ideas than this, now would be a good time. This is all we have to go on Bobby. What will happen if we keep trying to figure out a way or what it is and it gets worse? What will it do next? Sure it is harmless now with gimmicks but there is only a step higher it can go from that and so on."

_Think like a soldier. Like Dad taught us. Dean is right, we can't sit here with our thumbs up our asses. People die doing that._

Alex stared at Sam forgetting why she was avoiding his direction at his words. He had changed. Where indeed was the rational Sam? Agreeing with her and Dean? If she blinked hard enough she swore she saw John Winchester standing there instead of the tall male with moppy brown hair.

"There are still people we can call, if any of you haven't already. I know Con has a list if people that might be able to figure something out. Right?"

Von nodded, "I'll get on that right away." She removed the phone from her pocket and started to dial while leaving the room.

Bobby looked to the others, "I'm sure the rest of you can do the same. We'll make our next move once we've made sure no one has heard of this. Got it?" At that the rest of the group dispersed each with their phones. Alex headed towards the flight of stairs and Dean had wandered into the kitchen to have his phone in one hand and a beer in the other. Sam had disappeared as well but none of them had been troubled to see where.

Von had returned outside to the porch where the rain was still coming down in a fine sheen of droplet, there she took a seat on the old wooden bench that had been treated less than kindly by the weather over the years. It creaked under her lithe frame and she leaned forward with her phone pressed to her ear as it rang, she wasn't likely to work her way through her list of contacts alphabetically but rather on the basis of who she found to be most reliable. Excluding Bobby from that list only one came to mind, like the others of the group she doubted there was anything to be found that they hadn't turned over, still there was that need to try regardless.

"Hey, it's Von. Yeah, yeah you too... I think there's something big happening here, I need to know if you know anything," Von listened for a moment, "what do you know that can pull someone out of Hell? Yeah, you heard me."

888

Alex probably should have called Maxwell but she didn't want to get into it with him about Bobby and especially about the Winchesters that she was with. That conversation was best to not have had despite the information needed, though she knew Maxwell, he wouldn't know what to do in this situation. He'd be the same way because that was how he was, that was how most of the hunters that departed from Bobby Singer's list were nowadays. Instead of making any calls considering that was her only contact, she moved towards the stairs with her duffel motioning to the elder that she was staying there. She was still not happy about her forced apology but it wouldn't hurt to stay in a real bed that wasn't a teenagers. Going down the hall opening the bedroom doors she found two bedrooms with one queen in each and another one with two twins. The bunkbed had obviously been exchanged from younger years and Alex knew better than to check the last bedroom which was Bobby's. Off limits.

Entering one of the queen bedrooms she figured it would be best to be by herself. What with the whole ordeal and she had to face it her conversations she had out loud with her other half were going to cause suspicions with a roommate. Sitting on the bed and staring down at her hands she wondered why things had to be so difficult with Bobby. Sure she understood the being thorough and all that jazz but this was different. If they didn't know what it was, the top shelf hunters around then who would? That was her logic. Alex knew better than to call anyone but even if she had more trust in others she still wouldn't. They'd tell her the same thing. They wouldn't know.

"Are you going to share what _you_ know?" she asked the empty room.

Waiting for an answer the only thing she heard was silence. It was as if that part was locked away in a room at a desk like the others trying to double check. Alex knew it knew something, whether it was correct or not, there was knowledge hidden within. If only she could get to it but that was too risky. She had already tapped in when she wasn't supposed to. Against her code. Standing up and moving to the window she looked outside, a nice view into the salvage yard. Her sights were on the shed were her temporarily deceased car was and shifted when something disturbed the area. Eyes narrowing she spotted Sam move across in big strides, around piles and vanishing entirely.

_Fishy. Don't you think?_

Alex jumped from the sudden voice in her head and slammed her hands against the wall. "Don't do that!" Catching her breath she bit her bottom lip. "But yes I agree."

888

Sam had exited without anyone really catching where he was going. He moved with stealth and purpose making sure to find a private place not to be seen as he removed his cell phone and dialed the well-used number. Ringing as he waited he was about to give up when the voice came across and he breathed out in relief. "Why haven't you contacted me? I've been burning a hole through my phone for hours on end. I know why you left and it is probably best you did, but I have something that I need to ask you...actually make that three things. We have a situation and we don't know what it is but we think it is the thing that got Dean out of Hell, I am assuming you heard about that. Do you know anything about it? Also what can you tell me about Von MacKinnon and Alex Tatiani?"

"Alex Tatiani?" Ruby tried to shake the disbelief from her voice before the name came from her mouth. For all anyone knew Alex Tatiani had died and was as good as food to the worms in the dirt. She wondered what Sam wanted to know about the dead girl, yet it was the tone in Sam's voice that struck her hearing the name brought Goosebumps to her arms and a disconcerting smile to her lips that she would have thought well to hide if Sam were in her presence. "She's earned some infamy among the demonic community. Last thing I heard though was that she bit the big one. Are you trying to tell me she's alive?"

Ruby already knew the answer before it was out of Sam's mouth and she was already thinking of all the many possibilities that brought her way. It was the question she was stuck on, was Alex indeed alive and she worked it over for a moment before she remembered that Sam had asked two other questions. It probably annoyed him that she didn't answer his questions in order, instead she jumped to the one that sounded most important to her, or rather to the name that caught her attention. The issue of Dean Winchester rising from the grave was also another heavy topic. She had heard about it long before Dean reached the motel room in Bozeman, but she didn't tell Sam that.

Instead she said, "Yeah I heard, but not until after I left the motel, I had other errands to run and that's when I found out. By the time I got back to the motel you had taken off with Dean." There was a few minutes where Ruby didn't say anything at all instead she listened to the labored breathing coming from Sam and knew how badly he was hurting for it. She would have to get Sam to leave and meet her somewhere away from the hunters and away from the psychic. "Von, the red head? I don't have much on her Sam, she's a mystery and if anything's come across her they haven't lived to talk about it. That to me makes her dangerous and someone best to avoid, who knows what she's capable of."

_Crap._

Sam thought as his suspicions were agreed upon. It was hard for him to even believe that he wasn't trusting Von with how he knew her long ago but he knew better than anyone that people change. That or they had secrets that made them change. "So then what I am getting is that she isn't entirely human, I should listen to it?" Hearing Ruby confirm it, talking about to remember his training with her. If it was strong enough, he had to trust what he received. The first thing she had spoken of though disturbed him, swallowing he licked his bottom lip. "What do you mean earned some infamy and died? She is standing inside Bobby's house right now alive and breathing." Jaw tightening he turned in the direction the house he speaking of was. "I need to know everything you know about Alex. I can't keep trusting you and you alone Ruby, I'm going to go mad here. I already am in some way."

Ruby sighed, Sam had a trust deficit and he always needed reassuring. "She was making a name for herself as a hunter, and she could have been good, just not good enough to avoid getting killed. There were others that helped her get into the life, some of them wound up paying the price for that. There was a group of demons gunning for Alex and they wound up finding her because she was as careful as she could have been. And they killed her. But now you're telling me that she's sitting pretty safe and sound. The only way someone gets out of Hell Sam is if someone made a deal. The exception might be Dean if what you say is true. And that scares me Sam, because nothing I know of can do that. Not any kind of monster, ghost or demon, not even Lilith could swing that unless a deal was made."

The words were processing in his brain. Nothing she knew of could do that and he knew that no deal was made. Didn't he? If there was one attempted would it have worked? Would they have released Dean? Or would they have shunned him away like Sam knew they would to him. It was all a big mess but he would bring it up back at the house...that is if the others didn't have anything to say. Then there was Alex. Why hadn't she told him that she had been killed? He knew all too well of dying and coming back. Though from the sounds of it, Ruby thought adamantly that she should be dead for sure, as if there was no way Alex could ever come back to life like he had and now Dean. One thing he knew for sure was that he had to talk to Alex again, despite what happened in the shed. "Thanks for letting me know, we need to find a time to meet soon." A beat. "So do you think what you know on Alex that it is safe to confide and trust in her?"

"Absolutely not. Sam, I know how hard it is to have no one other than me to talk to about what you're going through and I wish I could say it was okay for you to take Alex in on what we've been doing. It's a risk I'm not willing to take, honestly I'm a little surprised you are, it's dangerous. You should be more worried about telling Dean, or how he's going to find out. Because he will find out, he's not as stupid as he looks." Ruby couldn't believe Sam actually wanted to confide in someone about what he was doing, after all the lectures that she had given him on this being a huge secret and that no one could know because it could ruin the whole plan. Thanks to her blood his psychic abilities had been growing and she had been telling him to follow the instinct that gave him, but if his gut was telling him to do this then he had to fight that compulsion.

Sighing he nodded his head. "Okay. And don't worry, I know what to tell Dean if he started to ask. I've had to plan it the drive over here." Scuffing his shoe in the dirt he knew he should be heading back. "Text when to meet up, I have to join the others. Thanks for everything." Pulling the cellular device from his face he ended the call and started his way back to the house, catching sight of movement from one of the windows upstairs he shook his head and entered. There he found Alex coming from the stairs and Von from the front door area. "So far I've found out that nothing can do what we are asking. Not unless a deal was made and we already know that I didn't make one."

Alex nodded and kept quiet, she didn't need to second it as they all knew what her thoughts were on the subject. Hell, she hadn't spoken to any of them in years. She assumed the same went for Von, but that was just an assumption. "And on my end...we all know what everyone thinks on my end what with Maxwell and the list of hunters there."

Von did not want to get involved in a conversation concerning Maxwell and other hunters of the same mindset, especially since she felt Alex was more inclined to agree with their standpoint on several topics such as the Devil's Gate in Wyoming. Yet it appeared that everyone had come to the same conclusion they had started with, nothing was capable of the impossible task of yanking Dean from Hell, not without making a deal for another human soul. "I have some people looking into it. Is there anyone else that would want you out of Hell bad enough to make a deal, aside from Sam?" Von wasn't going to add Bobby's name for the sole reason that no matter how low the elder got and how bad he was hurting at losing Dean, he would never make that deal to swap his soul for the Winchester.

Dean shook his head. "I don't exactly have a long list of friends Von," he answered somewhat sarcastically. The realization came to him that if it wasn't a friend that had signed on the dotted line then who had? Subconsciously Dean's hand ran over the scar on his left shoulder, the burn that had a startling resemblance to a handprint.  
_  
What could have done that, and how has it healed so fast?_

A white hot light flared in his mind's eye, an image he couldn't make out past the watering of his eyes, and then the memory was gone as fast as it had reappeared. If he could just see past that blinding light then he would know what it was, at least he liked to think so. Bobby was readying for the inevitable vote and was already about to roll his eyes when it was brought up again that the mystery monster should be summoned. Five hunters should be able to take on whatever it was, right?

"We could at least try to get a look at it before bringing it right here," Von suggested, though she was far from fond of the idea it had to be done. A séance would be easier than a summoning and though they were altogether different it would be a step in the right direction. Dean nodded and Bobby was shaking his head, his gut was telling him this idea was all sorts of bad, even with a séance all kinds of things could go wrong. "I can do it," Von reassured Bobby. He had to trust in her expertise and put aside his doubts and worries and his care for her to allow her to do her job and help Dean find out what had raised him from Perdition.

888

**5:00PM**

They all were situated at the kitchen table, made sure the doors were locked in case Trevor came over, pulled the curtains from prying eyes and had let Von set up.

_Witch._

Alex blinked fast where she sat next to Von and she swallowed. It would make sense but the thing was did she have any of the power that some did? She would be lying if she said it didn't make her skin crawl. There was something about witches that always set her on edge and made her uncomfortable. Sam had watched with high observation, not missing anything and came to the same conclusion and to him that made her more dangerous. He had to remember what Ruby said and where he sat in between Bobby and Dean he had remembered not to trust Alex entirely, despite the urge to be beside her and talk. Or was it more than talk? He should talk to Ruby about that when they meet up, it was a little too weird that he was still processing during the phone call. Too soon to bring that up what with him telling her that she was alive and speaking of Dean and Von.

This was it. They were going to try and find out what was going on in some sense. Find out what brought Dean back and possibly why. The air in the room already felt slightly pressurized and what little coolness there was had left. Eyes flicking to Von he knew that despite his reluctance there was still that pull he felt towards her when he saw her. When her voice entered his head without her moving her lips, he thought it was her but it held a different presence to it that made his mouth go dry.

_Concentrate!_

Sam inhaled and exhaled as he cleared his head and shook off everything going on around and within him. He needed to be aware. He had to be _there_ not somewhere else.

The tension in the room was nearly stifling, Bobby had faith in her and Dean was leaning his trust her way but Sam and Alex were discriminating and suspicious of her. She could see it in their furtive glances and almost hear the very words come from their mouths and for a fleeting second she wanted to be as far away from them and their emotions as possible before she gathered her nerve and reminded herself why she was doing this and for whom. Von wanted to tell them they needed to check their ego at the door, no one at the table was any worse than she was but none were any better. The energy of doubt would make it difficult to make a proper connection to the thing that had laid its hand on Dean, the red head would simply have to make do with what she had and trust in her own reserve of power to tap into the essence that the creature had left behind.

Centering herself Von looked to each member at the table, her eyes catching Sam's for the briefest moment, or perhaps it was the other way around. Taking in another cleansing breath to push away what she had seen in Sam's blue-green orbs her own deep green eyes rested on Dean. She was taking on a big risk for a list of reasons, this was for Dean though and for the sake of her own curiosity. "Dean, please roll up your sleeve," she asked and Dean did so.

There was a little voice in the back of her head, warning her not to touch the smooth pink scar and for a span of a blink her hand hovered over without touching before the surface of her palm clasped over the permanent mark. A jolt ripped up Von's arm like icy fire right into her heart, but she refused to let go and even if she had tried she would have found that she could not. The force of it caused her body to involuntarily jerk and she knew all eyes were on her, all on edge but only two with any real concern. Quickly the pain faded, she now had a connection, the first link in a chain, extending her left hand towards Alex she gazed at the brunette.

"Join hands." She could read the brunette's hesitance and there was a demand in the red head's eyes to do as she was told. "If anyone here is squeamish they should leave." Since all eyes were on Von no one had seen that Dean jerked as well when Von laid her hand on his shoulder, his fist clenched until his knuckles were bone white and then the electric shock died away. But while it lasted it was unlike any kind of pain or feeling he had experienced, not even in Hell had such a agitation passed through him.

_Fuck!_

Now that it had thankfully gone Dean felt a little weird, well, majorly weird like there was now a bond between Von and himself at least as far as her touching the burn on his arm went. The hub of all this crazy energy he never realized was inside of her, and it would have scared him, it should have scared him, yet somehow it wasn't making goose bumps dance crazily all over his skin. Not meaning to stare so intently at Von Dean's attention went to the candles at the center of the table and the spiral of incense that he could just make out by the light of the candles, Von's car smelled a lot like incense but better smelling than whatever this stuff was. Dean crinkled his nose and glanced up to where Sam was sitting, his little brother looked constipated with that stern expression of concentration on his face. Why did he look like he was going to take a dump the size of a grapefruit when it was Von that was going to be doing all the work on this humble venture?

Dean had a lot of other questions he wanted to ask Sam, now wasn't the time so he sufficed with a shake of his head and silently mouthed, "What's your problem?"

Sam shook his head to answer Dean's question, feigning a 'nothing' look on his face and finally managing to smooth it out. He had to try without giving himself away. The thing he was trying though was piggy backing onto what Von would be witnessing, he had to make sure that she didn't leave him out of the loop, that she wasn't going to lie to them and even if she did he would know the truth. That was important right? No, he had to remind himself that finding out for Dean was important. He had to remember that otherwise he'd fall apart completely at the seams. Concentrating he focused what was inside him in a different way. Instead of the ripping demons out with it, he reached out like a rubber band, trying to warm it up to go further before he felt it loop around her consciousness once he was sure she was under. He could feel a different energy than what he felt when he touched Alex. It was like he was melting into a soft bed and being cocooned by a caring lover. His eyelids were brushed like flower petals being dragged across and he inhaled, smelling the incense, filling him entirely.

He swore that his breath would cease to exist any moment and yet he continued to go on. Being psychically linked to Von was beyond anything he had ever experienced. All that mistrust crumbled and he was home again. Little did he know that his hand was nearly crushing Bobby's and his brothers as he was lost into where she was going to take them.

Alex took Von's hand and closed her eyes like the others did when she began. Her brows furrowed at the skin to skin contact between them. The thing inside her cringed and flexed as if it were going to take over her body from the inside like armor. A second inky black skin. Pushing down on it, she had felt something else and the scent of lavender came, helping and relaxing her. Exhaling, Alex didn't think she'd ever think it but she knew that without a doubt whatever happened to Von at this table or at any time she was going to protect her. As if it were her job to and the little confusion rolling over her mind became silent as she deduced it to their old semi-friendship from the past. She too couldn't think of any reason why to mistrust Von in that moment, there with the others, at that time, being connected like an electric fence heavily charged.

_Bad. Very bad. I don't like this Alex._

_'Oh shut the fuck up.'_

888

He had been watching. It was his duty to make sure things went according to the plan and this was not following it. They were sitting in that house, trying to find answers to something they should not be digging into. Humans and their curiosity and need for knowledge. Castiel had done everything to get them to this point. Making sure that Alex had that hunt in Ekalaka, making sure that Maxwell wound up calling Bobby at the precise moment Von and Dean were wound down and ready to go find Sam. The other part was Ruby, that he couldn't control, neither could he control certain directions Von would take. She was a special one, different than the others. But meddlesome. He had even taken part into having Alex's car take a turn for the worse to have them gather once again. They needed to be together. They all had to remain together, no deviations.

And yet, there was one deviation. This...séance business. Castiel went through all the channels as he closed his eyes and focused on the open connection. Anything Von would try and do he'd counteract as best as he could. They could not know who brought Dean back, it was too much of a risk. Especially for Von to find out.

888

She felt each one of them and then she was alone, yet she felt heavy like she was carrying an extra burden. Shrugging off this feeling she pursued the clear path of energy that lay before her feet, which glittered like a strand of starry flowers. Stooping down she attempted to hold one of the flowers but it crumbled into dust between her slender fingers, it was the right path, but it was strange. Familiar. Von hated that feeling, especially when she didn't know why it was being caused. Wasting no time she followed the path through the void, everywhere now stars began to twinkle and the light scent of a dewy morning filled with spring flowers came to her nose. But under that scent was something Von knew but couldn't place her finger on it mingled so well with the floral aroma. Her skin tingled and felt tight, excitement filled her in a horrible and manic way until dread shook that from her when the brush of soft wings grazed her cheek and the path before her disappeared.

Von froze and waited searching out the deep places of the pitch void, she knew she had eyes on her, the eyes of the thing in the garage. Shaking her head she refused to make the mistake of thinking that the starry flower path had anything to do with what happened in the garage. The two felt nothing alike, nothing close. Taking a careful step forward she searched out the path, a faint glimmer in the distance amidst the star littered ceiling above her, if she could not follow the path than she would find another way. He had moved the path as far from sight as possible but it was not so far that Von would find a way to reach it. She was endowed with a tenacity that was aggravating, no matter how he blocked her path she was able to undo his work. Where he would raise his hands to build a wall she would cause it to crumble with a flick of her wrist. Where he would destroy the path at her feet she would create a new one.

For a minute and no more Castiel began to think that it was not the surroundings he should be manipulating but Von. At least what could be manipulated of the psychic. Castiel was quickly about to put his plan to action when Von began to summon him forth. Not by name, such a thing would have been impossible for her to know. "I conjure and command you, show me your face," Von's voice boomed through the layers of blackness and the air around her grew warm and thick with ozone.

Slowly she felt tendrils circling around the thing that was playing tricks on her and that it was no low level being. This was going to be like tethering a super nova. Von was surprised to feel a third presence as she gave the command a second time. The expression on her features turned from concentration to a scowl when she identified the familiar marker of the person. This was the extra weight she felt going through the veil, and his presence here proved without a doubt what she had been suspecting all along. Von no longer needed any proof. Anger flared from the red head towards the third presence, she wanted him to dread how much shit he was going to be in for.

"I conjure and command you, show me your face!" In the back of her mind was a warning to stop, and then the same warning breathed in her ears, a whisper to turn back and the brush of feathers came close by like a bird flying past. "Show me your face!" the words burst from Von's lips one last time.

Without warning a blazing light assaulted her senses and she barely had enough sense to swing up her arms to block the luminous flame from burning her eyes from her skull. She gave a cry of alarm and pain, reaching out her left hand to ward it off while her right arm was pressed against her watering eyes. The thing clasped her hand, palm to palm, fingertips to fingertips and it felt like she was touching a warm light bulb. Immediately Von was knocked out of her trance before she had a chance to do anymore and the first sound she heard was Alex screaming.


	9. Bad Wings

Alex screamed in pain from the white searing coming from hers and Von's hands together. Her grip fell and she clutched the sizzling glowing white injury. The form burned into her hand was that of wings and something else and anger filled her. Her head rose, "What the fuck did you do?" Teeth bared and clenched as she breathed she came out of it as her unburned hand flew to her mouth, eyes wide. That was not her that had said that. She knew as she looked at all the others around the table were staring at her that her eyes were the swirling blue and black. "No..."

Her form got up from the table, speeding around and through the living room, she heard her chair smack to the ground and yet all she kept thinking was that she had to leave. Get out of there, run far away. Damn her car and her belongings, her life was at risk. They had seen. They knew. Alex ran into the hall and wrenched open the front door, once she had taken the first step did she yell out as a body slammed into her, arms encircling her. Together they landed on the ground, a cloud of dirt upended in the air at impact and she struggled, elbowing the one who had her in the stomach and kicking out hoping her flailing limbs made contact and did damage and when they lifted her up she screamed, shaking her head.

"You always ruin everything!" she yelled at the thing inside her.

_I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Alex. I would take it back if I could. They won't understand. Hunters never will._

Dean rugby tackled her off the porch and got ahold of her to bring her back into the house, for a curvy chick she had really pointy elbows and all her flailing and kicking was starting to hurt. Unceremoniously, Dean dropped Alex onto the porch with a thud and stooping down gave her a shot to her face with his fist, her head bounced up from the wooden planks and she was out cold. With a weary sigh Dean wiped his face on his sleeve and gathered the brunette back into his arms.

Sam stared at Von who was still sitting at the table as his brother and Bobby had gone to chase down Alex. She was possessed. How could he miss that? Von on the other hand he felt horrible. Slowly moving from his seat and moved to her side and put his hand tentatively down on her shoulder. "I know I wasn't supposed to. But I'm sorry...I shouldn't have."

Von shirked away from Sam's touch, rolling her shoulder in disgust and if she was some kind of Jedi master she would have had better control over her emotions as she rose from the table. But she wasn't. The chair jerked out behind her and almost landed on its side like Alex's had. It was hard to put into precise words how she was feeling but the paralyzing tingle spreading through her hand from slapping Sam hard across the face proved a satisfying justification that she was sure he felt as well. With fiery green orbs narrowing at Sam she turned to exit the house and give what assistance she could, even though she was still out of sorts from the séance.

"Follow me, I know exactly where to put her." Bobby lead the way into the house and to the basement door. Dean followed without saying a word, he was just trying to figure out what the hell had happened. Von had been talking to whoever it was she was talking to and then Alex spazzed right out. He had seen her eyes and thought instantly that she was possessed but there was blue mixed with the inky black. Dean had never seen or heard of a demon with eyes like that which was probably why all of them sat there stunned as shit instead of getting out the holy water and rocksalt. From all the questions that were gathering in his mind Dean's head was starting to hurt.

_I'm gunna need a few drinks after this_.

Upstairs Sam's palm of his hand rested on the side of his face, moving his jaw back and forth to gain some feeling back. He deserved that. He knew he did but it still hurt like Hell. Once he was okay, he went downstairs where the others were, tying up Alex onto a chair in the middle of the devil's trap fan above. Staring at her unconscious form he shook his head. He didn't dare speak, afraid that Von would snap at him or something so he just stood there as they finished up taking precautions. In the chair, Alex could feel her wrists hurt form pressure and around her ankles. The thing inside poking at her mind to wake back up, fight through the haze. Wincing and turning her head to the side slowly, she raised it, opening her mouth to work out the kinks of the punch Dean had landed her.

Eyes going from the hunters before her to her wrists she felt panic rise in ever cell of her being. When her sights landed on Dean she couldn't help but feel a little better knowing that he had some bruises starting to form from her struggle. Only for a brief moment. "Is this really necessary?" she asked, as if what happened never even happened.

_I could try and help. We might be able to get further. Although considering Von..._

"I didn't do anything. Just let me go."

Dean and Von were the closest to Alex in the room and Bobby wasn't too far behind, Von had a crumpled and softened scrap of paper towel in her hand that she had been dabbing her bloodshot eyes with, taking away from the irritated and leaky orbs traces of red in her tears. She was thanking the gods that that light hadn't burned her eyes out of her skull. The thing scared her, her stomach had never clenched so tight facing other nightmarish creatures than when the thing touched her hand and she could feel it flowing through her, under the skin of her.

Bemusement filled Dean's grin. "Right, we're just gonna let you walk after what we saw." His sarcasm had a ferocious note to it that spoke of impending violence.

It would be easily done by him to fast track to answers, he knew several tricks that could make a good amount of demons and more than a hundred humans compliant. Straightening from where he kneeled to tighten the last of Alex's bindings he gathered his senses for the time and stood an easy three feet away from Von who was examining Alex with her piercing eyes. Yes, this was the darkness she had felt in Alex, that inky viscous essence which was tied to her. Possession was the very first thing that had come to many of their minds, yet if it was that what was the demon to gain by playing so risky a game as to be in the company of such hunters with reputations as theirs. And if she was possessed Von would have smelled it on her in a heartbeat. Whatever this was, whatever was inside of Alex it was far more complicated than a black-eyed demon riding in her meat.

"You haven't done anything to us, that's true, but you did react to something that happened in the séance that you couldn't have reacted to, not unless you were _there_, and you weren't." Von cast her reddened eyes back at Sam and saw him shrink from her gaze. Had he seen anything, or was his blind consciousness simply tied to hers to spy on her? Turning back to Alex she thought about it, how had the entity reached through her to Alex, and why Alex and not Dean or anyone else at the table?

"What are you doing here, and _what _are you, those aren't like any kind of black eyes I've ever seen," Dean remarked.

He looked to Bobby and the elder shrugged. "Beats me," he said, "if she is possessed we better get that demon out of her quick before it does any damage."

"If?" Dean raised a brow and turned to look at Bobby for an answer.

"Does it look like I got any kind of answer? We don't know what she is or if there's anything that's in her so we need to work all the angles."

"We need answers," Dean argued back and stepped closer to Alex, "so answer the questions otherwise this is gonna get a whole lot harder for you."

"I'm not gonna give them to you the way you want them. I am here because my car broke down by whatever just happened upstairs and the other thing...I do have something inside but you aren't going to know what," Alex answered, feeling a snide laugh come in her mind and a smile on her lips she tried to fight that part that wanted to talk through her again like when it broke through earlier. "Thanks for the compliment on my eyes though." Shaking her head and lowering it she hissed to herself. "Shut up."

_Sorry, didn't mean for that to come out...looks like those bindings aren't that great anymore huh?_

Dean scowled at the snarky reply and it was Von's turn to raise her eyebrows. She noted the distinct change in Alex's voice when she remarked on her eyes and the angry whisper that followed. "So there is something else," Von approached but did not touch, she was still recovering from the séance. Soon she would have to get something to eat in order to ground herself, otherwise she would keep floating.

Sam stepped forward finally, taking great care to stay from Von. "What do we do now? We have to find out more. And there has to be a reason why it came up now right?"

"Only one thing can do that dumbass. Will you stop it?!" Alex screamed, sweat was starting to form on her forehead. The thing's inner thoughts were becoming outies and that freaked her out. Regardless of what it just said, she'd rather it shut up than think...say anymore.

"What thing?" Bobby asked gruffly.

They were all waiting for the answer. Dean was hard faced tempted to pull the answer from Alex's mouth and Von was tempted to go hands on and rip the information from Alex's skull. "Answer the question," Dean barked at the tied up brunette. He gave her a smack to loosen her mouth and while he felt eyes on him no one said a word.

When Alex turned her head back she spat out blood onto the floor. "Gotta do more than that to get the answer hot shot." Alex closed her eyes and turned her head away. "I don't know what it knows. Please don't let it goad you." Her head turned back. "No Alex, if they want to know bad enough they have to earn it."

"I've never seen anything like this before..." Sam breathed. "It's like she has split personality."

Dean was about to cuff her again when Von raised her hand to stop him. "Don't you have any regard for the body you're in? If you know things that Alex doesn't then you should know for damn sure that we'll get the answer from you, one way or another and that means bad things for you in all sorts of ways." Von wouldn't say anymore because she didn't want Sam to know anymore, that is any more than he might know already. She still wanted to beat the tar out of him, the distance he kept wasn't spacious enough for her liking. Despite this she acknowledged Sam's comment, she had never seen anything like this where the two sides were so at odds with each other. One always had more control than the other, and that was usually the evil side.

Alex shook her head slowly, her pleading eyes set on Bobby. Her body was doing one thing while her mouth was saying another. "Of course I do, but I obviously don't care at the same time. In some way Alex deserves a little punishment. I might feel it but not as much as she does." Alex inhaled and attempted at pushing it back down, trying to find the bindings. The thoughts in her head were hers, that she had to build it back up again. But they wanted to know things and hell she wanted to know at least a little bit of the same if not more. There was a reason she couldn't remember what happened to her in Hell, and it obviously knew more than it was letting on.

"How could you say that?" Sam asked.

"Sam just...don't go there please. It's how it is," Alex replied, the real her while the thing inside just sat there...waiting.

Sam looked to the other hunters in the room. If he was alone he could easily get out answers and then rip the thing out of her like Ruby had trained him, but he wasn't alone. Turning to leave he knew that they were following after him. One, Von didn't look so good, and two Dean was about ready to blow up from what he could see. When the panic room was sealed shut, they went upstairs to converse. "How do you propose we go about this Bobby?" he asked as he grabbed a beer for the three of them while he noticed Von grab something to eat.

_I wonder if it takes it out of her like it does me when I do what I do...actually eating wouldn't hurt but I'm not hungry for what she is heading for._

His stomach turned at the thought. Ruby. It was a good thing he listened to her and didn't say anything to Alex after what he had just witnessed. There were the obvious methods though of getting the thing to speak in Alex. The regular demonic techniques but that was another question they had to get answered was what she was. Would that even work? What wouldn't work on it and what would be good to try...the thought of torture was something that made his blood heat up and he pushed down that. That was for when he was looking for Lilith with Ruby not an old friend. Right?

"I got a bad feeling this isn't the usual possession we're used to dealin' with. If Alex had a demon in her she would've gotten stuck in the house somewhere. I got Devil's Traps set up everywhere and there isn't any way she would have been able to make her way past 'em," Bobby explained as he met eyes between the brothers and looked up at Von who was now cooking something on the stove.

"We have to hit the books again," Dean cursed, "that's just perfect, because that's what I want to do on my Tuesday afternoon." He took an angry pull from the chilled beer. "We should throw everything we have at her first then if we get nowhere then we can pour over dusty moth eaten pages."

_None of our usual methods will work_, the thought was not Dean's if it was it came in the guise of Von's rich, husky voice.

He turned his head to her but her back was to him as she busied over the food she was making, it was starting to smell really good. Turning back around he settled his nerves with another drink, beer was just the appetizer Dean was planning on working his way towards something stronger. Bobby sighed, "Von can I talk to ya for a minute?"

Von nodded and set her food on the table then she turned to Dean and stared him dead in the eye, "You touch my food and I'll bite you again," she warned.

"Alright, fuck," Dean raised his hands in appeasement and leaned back in his chair before taking another swig of his beer.

The moment the two left the room to speak, Sam looked at his brother. "Biting? Again?" Seeing Dean shrug his response with a smirk, Sam shook his head. Whatever happened between them he didn't want to know now that he thought about it. "Never mind."

Once a good enough ways from the kitchen to keep from prying ears Bobby voiced his concerns, "If Devils' Traps can't hold her what's to stop her from leaving that room?"

"I put the finishing touches on the panic room weeks ago, every kind of ward I know of and if there's something we want to keep in or out I installed that barrier that will keep her where we want her. The moment we closed it, it became active. We did a good job making that room Bobby, it's time to put it to use. When I get some energy back I plan on going down there when the guys are asleep, maybe I can pull something out of her that will help us."

"That's a big risk," Bobby was using his fatherly I-don't-approve-of-this tone but he knew Von was stubborn.

"I'm a lot better at that than the other thing," she was commenting about her telekinesis which had a tendency to flare up during visions, nightmares or severe causes of mood. Bobby let it go, they would only end up arguing about it and that was one less thing the elder hunter wanted to have on his plate at the moment.

When the two came back, they discussed to not do anything until tomorrow. Sam on the other hand had plans to head down there when everyone was asleep. He was going to have to try what he knew but first..."I'm going to go on a food run in town, maybe hit the library and get some books and do some research anyways." Finding that Dean couldn't care less unless he brought back pie, he smiled. Just like old times.

Before he left he could have sworn he felt Von's eyes on him but he turned his head back to find she was talking with Bobby and Dean. Shaking it off he took one of Bobby's old fixed up cars and headed in to town. Going into the library like he said he was, he made sure to head into a private study room, grabbing random books as he went before shutting it and placing the door against the knob. Closing his eyes he did what Ruby had told him to do. Think about contacting her. Seeing her and telling her to come see him. That it was safe. When he opened his eyes he found her. As he saw her opening her mouth to ask him what he wanted and why he asked her to come, he had her in his arms and lips to hers. Heated energy came off of him, the release much needed from being around the others. Separating from her mouth he stared into her eyes.

"I need all the power I can get. There is something I have to do tonight that is very important. No questions asked. I'll tell you later. But for now...just trust me." Seeing her search his orbs he inhaled and they crashed together. His hands went to her thighs and lifted her onto the table while the other one removed the blade from her boot.

888

**7:10pm**

Von was sitting on the back porch, wrapped in a shawl with her bare toes poking out and a warm cup of tea clasped in her hands. She was brought round from her introspective reverie by the sound of a car driving up the lot, Sam's return, and with him entering the house she had lost the relaxed comfort she had gained from having a quiet moment alone. Her muscles tensed and she became rigid and she instinctively strained her senses which was unwise as even sitting she grew dizzy. The food had helped a great deal but that thing made of light's touch had a profound effect on her that she wasn't sure anything but rest would help her recover from.

_One problem snow balled into another. First Dean returns, not so much a problem, then the 'old gang' is back together, the thing I'm chasing after that pulled Dean from Hell is proving difficult to find because of another thing that is trying to stop me. That's two powerful creatures, and then Alex is possessed or whatever the hell she is and there's something seriously wrong with Sam._

Sighing Von swallowed down more of her tea and closed her eyes only to reminisce about the being made of light.

888

He took the front porch steps two at a time, reaching for the door he re-entered the home he left a little over an hour ago. Grocery bags in his hands he kicked the door shut and moved into the kitchen. Pulling out a few sandwiches, a salad, more beer and Dean's pie. He had to remember that one, almost forgot but thankfully he remembered out the door to the place. The encounter with Ruby had been a success and he felt better. No more shaking, no more doubt. Just power. Smiling as he sat down to dig into his salad he had already formulated the plan with Ruby. He had told her after the exchange about what he had found out and it helped to have a second mind on board.

"Nothing at the library...but didn't hurt to look."

"You made me wait for nothing."

Dean snatched the pie off the table with a grin and a lick of his tongue across his lips. Already prepared with a fork in hand he dug into the baked delicacy, apple pie, one on the long list of favorites. While he had been waiting on Sam Von had been kind enough to surrender her leftovers after she had had her fill. It was some mish-mash of chili and other things that was damn tasty and Dean said as much but Von just waved him off and started to make tea for herself while slipping out of her heavy biker boots. Crinkling his nose at Sam's salad he shook his head.

"You should have had some of what Von made. Would have grown some hair on that girly chest of yours," he chuckled not caring that Sam was glaring at him, in fact it made him laugh more to see his little brother so agitated so easily. "Well, it's nice to know some things haven't changed at least."

888

The chair creaked against the ropes as her hands rotated, wrists burning but enough to distract her from the voices upstairs. Alex finally had time to think while that other part sunk back into silence. Her eyes took in the room she was in. Iron and salt walls, a makeshift bed behind her for those late nights, a desk with some papers here and there. It reminded her of a bomb shelter, she shouldn't have expected anything less from Bobby. The door had a peep hole so then anything held captive could have an eye kept on them, while the fan could be heard rotating above her adding some coolness into the atmosphere. She noticed when the sun went down outside, the walls getting darker where what little light from above couldn't reach. Time had been lost and hours had been evidently spent as her ass was hurting from sitting in the same spot.

Footsteps over and above told her where they were going, she had it mapped it out. When they went one direction and a door would shut there, those were the exits. Then came when they moved and it just stopped, closer to door. Stairs. No heavy footsteps told her that Sam must've retired for the night and pretty soon three pairs followed suit. It was night time for the fellow hunters. Alex sighed. What was she going to do? She hadn't even eaten, she was starving and it wasn't like she was going to sleep anyways. That time had come when she couldn't take what her body needed and had to stop falling asleep. Time to go a couple weeks without sleep once more. Routine. Groaning she desperately wanted to stretch and scream. If they had let her go to just lie down on that oh so comfortable looking bed she would have been fine. Just fine to be there and wait but no. Eventually she started to count the seconds, which led to minutes and then hours before her head jerked up. Someone was awake.

Sam moved down the stairs silently. He had been in the room with the two single beds with Dean and left when Dean's snoring kicked in. There was no way he was waking up any time soon because when he snored at rare times it meant that he was in his deepest REM cycle. Von on the other hand he had checked into her room to find her asleep as well and there was no need for Bobby. He had had enough to drink before they all headed to bed that it would take the smell of sulphur to wake him up. Moving as quietly as possible, a great task for his size, he moved down the hall and down the final set of stairs to the panic room. Upon arriving at the door he inhaled. Preparing himself. Focusing on that power within him, remembering lessons and techniques, he turned the handle and entered.

"Sam..." Alex began, she had to get him to leave her alone.

The sound of light tap-tappings on the floor above, Sam froze, eyes wide and only that way when the door opened and shut. If he had been caught, he would have to pay greatly. Moving forward he made sure the door was shut but not locked as he knelt before her, hands resting on her knees. "I have to know Alex. I have to know what it is you don't and what it is you do."

"I can't Sam. Do you know how badly you are playing with fire here?" she asked, trying to ignore the small buzz of electricity coming from the touch he had just through her jeans.

"I already know you died and that demons found you and killed you. I know why..."

"No, you know nothing," Alex grit out, eyes swirling with black. "To say you do is stupidity and naivety."

"Explain."

Alex blinked and her eyes were back and tears were shining in her eyes but wouldn't release. "That is my burden to bear not yours Sam."

Sam nodded and stood, turning around and finding a good spot he turned back and stared hard at her, the power filling him as he let anger at Lilith ride into him. Anger at the thing that prevented them from finding out in the séance what brought Dean back, anger at what was inside Alex for making him do this to find out what it knew. "What brought Dean out of Hell?" he ground out.

"I don't know!" Alex shouted before smiling. "Oh yes I do. Try harder Sam."

"You asked for it." Sam raised his hand and brought forth what he built him, the blood running in his veins that held all his power. Alex choked and felt like she couldn't breathe, her mouth opened as she convulsed, her heart was pounding thousand fold. Her ribcage cracked inwards little by little but nothing fractured and blood began to come from her nose. When it stopped she coughed and inhaled roughly, gasping for oxygen that her lungs had been deprived of. "I'll ask again. What brought Dean out of Hell?"

"What the Hell are _you_ Sam?" she coughed. "You need to stop. You don't know what you're doing." His hand rose once more and the reaction started a second time, this time Alex could have sworn her heart skipped a few beats.

His hand fell sharply when Alex fought to breathe. It was strange, she wasn't acting like the others. About to ask more he heard heavy footfalls coming from the direction of the stairs from the second floor to the main. Without saying so much as a goodbye he left the room, locked the door and moved towards the basement entrance to the outside. Taking the handle he pushed and exited, shutting it tightly before walking away. Alex was right it was playing with fire. He had always had a possible run in with the first one who came down and now he knew very well who it was who came down this time. It had to be Dean.

_Walk it off Winchester. Walk it off._

Sam looked at the house and back at the salvage yard. He shook his head and went around front and to the tree sitting out there. Fresh air might be good to clear his head before he went back in. If he went inside now and ran into Dean he would be too pumped up from what happened with Alex. Sitting there he leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he breathed. Before he knew it he had fallen into a deep sleep, dreaming of a field of tall grass, lying down staring up at the stars in the night sky and someone giggling joyfully around him, knowing they were dancing about as they watched him. A smile came to his lips and he laughed along.

888

**12:01AM  
September 22, 2008  
Autumnal Equinox**

Von was still from the exhaustion the day had brought upon her, deep into sleep, yet only a few sparse hours were hers to have before nightmares set upon her. She tossed and turned, sweat beading her brow and dampening her back and chest, her limbs clutched and tore at the sheets in fits of panic and dread. Her mouth yawned open into a scream deafening in its silence while her back arched off the bed nearly bringing her whole body before she dropped back down to lay limp and still as if one dead.

Slowly dragging her legs off to the side of the bed Von sat up, perched on the edge of the mattress. Head bowed her eyes half closed and green orbs hazy and unseeing. Standing and with the same lethargic movements she walked to the door and opened it, and travelled down the hall towards the stairs where she descended without a sound past the faintest creak of the old steps. Von walked about the house slowly, graceful strides carried her to the backdoor. Her hand grasped the knob and the deadbolt turned on its own, with the door unlocked Von exited and the door closed behind her of its own accord, the deadbolt snapping into place. The ground was a mix of gravel, dry patches of dirt and mud from the rain, this did not appear to bother the auburn haired woman as she continued to walk from the porch and through the scrap yard somehow avoiding all the shards of glass and metal that could have sliced her delicate feet wide open. She continued to walk as such as if guided on a string, beginning to hum softly while she crossed through the scrapyard.

888

_Twist the knife. Just so. Deeper. Deeper. Just about. There. Perfect. Feel that, that small pinch. Now sever it. Feel that, I know you do. Feels good, doesn't it?_

Intoxicating.

Dean woke sharply from all the screaming and the thick reek of blood burning his nostrils, the smell only faded when he realized where he was. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed he bent down and retrieved a two-six of whiskey that he brought up with him to bed. Downing half the contents he came up for air and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He had not meant to fall asleep but that had come from him drinking so much, it was a brutal circle because he had to drink to fall asleep but then he had nightmares so he drank during the day to deal with that which made it easier for him to fall asleep. It wasn't so bad now because he still thought he had a handle on it.

Letting his eyes adjust he could see that Sam was not in the room with him, he didn't want to think much of it, his brother sometimes woke up in the middle of the night to take a leak, but he was worried. Standing he stretched and felt the warmth of the liquor hit his feet but it wasn't anything he wasn't used to so he stuffed the booze under his pillow and headed downstairs, he would either find Sam down there or he would go down to pay Alex a visit and get some much needed answers.

888

Humming softly, singing, chanting Von's voice was a kaleidoscope of beautiful sounds and notes of a long forgotten melody. What ancient beings did she call upon and sing to, lost from the hearts of men? They had long since forgotten how to listen, yet Von still remembered she knew to remember without ever being told. Set in a trance her mind was filled with remembering, knowing things she couldn't possibly have known while her consciousness rested in a fog. Hearing something stir behind her she paused in her meditation and listened, then resumed the words that were coursing from her mouth as a gentle stream would through a forest. Her head bowed and her body swayed where she sat in the grass consumed with this unknown task set before her. She had scratched open the cut on her forearm, using her own blood to faintly draw out a map of symbols on her bare thighs and arms. Sometimes she would pause and stare up at the sky that had cleared of rain clouds and she would stare boldly at the waxing gibbous moon, in four days it would be full, then she bowed her head in humility and continued her chant.

Sam was lying there for who knows how long when he heard the giggling stop and singing replace it. It grew louder making him furrow his brows and sit up in the tall grass. Looking around he didn't see the female anywhere, he had never caught a glimpse of her and he yearned to now. Where was she? He had to find her. The music began to lull him back to lie down, closing his eyes again for a brief moment he reopening to find where he was had changed. The familiarity of the tree against his back and the branches above him. Sam could still hear the singing and he slowly shifted, his head glancing around the area before realizing it was coming from the other side of the tree. Looking around he found another one not far from his own and saw Von.

His eyes widened. Her voice was beautiful, majestic and alluring but his attention then caught the blood she was writing with. It was her own. What on earth was she doing? Sam attempted to stand, a twig cracking under one of his shoes, wincing as he did he saw her stare right at him. A very blank look on her face like he had attracted a deer's attention. Without any heed she stood gracefully and ran. Sam did the only thing he could think of. He ran after her.

Fleet footed and agile Von was as a gazelle leaping among the sparse gathering of trees that curved along the outer edge of the scrapyard. Each step landed with perfect balance to lift again and carry her lithe body forward, the bright moon made her fair skin luminous when it reached through the trees to stroke the flesh of her arms and thighs making her appear as a shifting phantom between shadow and light. The man she had seen and fled from showed remarkable tenacity in his pursuit, she could hear his fumbling maneuvers far behind her and yet he stayed on her path. She weaved left then right, out from the trees and then back in leaping over high roots and over a mound to disappear into the shadow behind it. She did not want this man to find her, to touch her and yet she knew she teased and played with this impure one in this dire game of fox and hound.

Taking perch in a tree sheltered from the moon she waited until he passed underneath, quietly she watched and her skin bristled with goose bumps at the sight of him. The things she saw that no mortal could see and how she felt that this man was such an unfortunate thing to be the conundrum that he was. Once he passed from sight she leapt down into a crouch and slowly rose to her feet facing the direction he had gone in. But without any hint she was sprinting off again from where she had come, her wild auburn hair flowing out behind her.

_Where...is she?_

Sam stopped to catch his breath. That was when he caught her on his radar. He straightened, and his head turned.

_Sneaky._

He couldn't help but chuckle at the game they were playing as he ran back where he had come from, although taking a different path to cut her off. Once he got into the shadows of a tree that was when he heard her. Coming out and enfolding her in his arms she fought with him. Lifting her up with a small gruff sound he pinned her to the ground. Staring down at her he tried to stop her from wriggling. "Von. Von! You are hurt!" he said, checking where the blood was still running from a cut and what she had written with it on herself. Seeing that she wasn't very aware he gripped harder and his face got closer. "Von, listen to me. Are you awake?" No answer. "Wake up!" That was when he saw the recognition and awareness come to her. Slowly backing his face from hers, he loosened his grip and leaned back to sit on his ass. "Why did you run? Why did you hurt yourself?"

Backpedalling warily away from Sam Von took in her surroundings. Why was she outside in the damp middle of the night with Sam on top of her in nothing but her pajamas? She had no recollection of how she ended up here and only now did she feel the aching sting of the cut Dean had given her now pried open from her incessant scratching of it. Forgetting for a moment that Sam was there staring at her she checked the wound and traced the trail of blood to her arms and ran her fingers over the markings on her thighs, which were not all together unfamiliar to her.

"Wh-" Von pressed her fingers lightly to her temples and squeezed her eyes closed. From what she could see it was all her own blood, which meant she hadn't hurt anyone and Sam appeared to be fine aside from his questioning stare and if Von was detecting correctly a genuine concern. The icy wet of the mud was biting into the bare skin of her legs so she stood and wiped away the moist streaks of dirt and deadfall that clung to her, her body betraying that it was now feeling the cold of the night as it shivered.

She couldn't answer Sam's questions because she didn't know and right now, only different from other times before from its intensity, she wanted to be away from such a close proximity to Sam. The air around him was like a poison to her and she could not look at him straight filled with dread of what she might see. That made her shake a little also though she tried to hide it. Wrapping her arms around her chest she began to walk back to the house, the porchlight could be seen through the towers of crushed cars and Von made her way towards it trying to be careful of the dangerous debris that lay at her feet, glass, metal, nails and bolts could at any moment find their way into her foot. When she heard Sam begin to walk behind her she cringed feeling the force of him pressing against her. Breathing out she pushed it away, affording herself a little more comfort on her walk back to the house or so she told herself. Von fought with the impulse to turn her head and check behind her, feeling his presence was enough she did not have to have eyes upon him.

He had no idea what was going on. Sam felt like he needed to check her over make sure that she was cleaned up, patched up and alright but she was moving away from him. He also had to remember that she was not to be trusted and that she was dangerous. Not knowing what she could do but he had witnessed some of it had he not? The seance and just now...he was repelled and yet pulled forward at the same time. As if he were a yoyo. Once they made it to the house and entered he opened his mouth to speak but she was already up the stairs and out of sight. Running his hand through his hair in frustration he hated how things were so frustrating, difficult and confusing.

Breathing out harshly his eyes took in the silent house and then towards the basement door. He was tempted to continue what he started but didn't want to risk any encounters. Grabbing a beer from the fridge he followed the leftover trail that seemed to glow in his mind, where Von ascended the steps. Down the hall he veered into his room, too dark to really see much from the lights in the house, he took a few good swigs before crashing onto the bed. His mind already going back to that field as his eyes closed once more.

Von took to a different direction as she closed the bathroom door behind her, fresh clothes, towel and toiletry bag in hand. Setting these things aside she stripped off her cold muddy panties and camisole and left them in a pile on the old tiled floor. Her pale skin was covered in gooseflesh at the exposure of the air and she rubbed her arms as she gave a once over in the mirror, not that anything ever changed about her condition aside from the fading bruises and the well healed cut on her lip. She gave a closer inspection to her forearm where Dean had made the cut and that she had scratched open, it was much worse now but nothing a clean bandage and some ointment wouldn't help with.

For a reflective moment her slender fingers traced the old scars that decorated her body. The jagged white trinity of lines that wrapped around from her belly button upwards over her ribs and close to her spine, it was to be the first of many as the years progressed and she became a hunter. Monsters and other hunters alike would lay their mark upon her, Von inflicted several of her own, the purple dots from needles and the thin crisscross lines of scalpel sharp knives cutting into the delicate flesh of her inner thighs were to be permanent reminders of some of the lowest and harshest points in her life. Upon everything else Von did not linger long on the scars she held from other hunters, her mind was already riddled with troubled thoughts, to think that they were still out there, one in particular was enough to make her forget her duties here and flee for safety. Moving from the mirror to the shower she turned on the water, nice and hot and stepped into the tub and pulled the curtain over.


	10. Penetrate

Alex had longer than normal amount of seconds where her heart fought to beat and where her lungs fought to work to get air back. When she managed to get even a little bit of normality and safety back that she was going to be okay, that was when she heard what Sam had heard to make him leave. She had almost died. She didn't know how she knew, but whatever Sam was doing, it had almost killed her. Like he was trying to rip her soul out or something. Head flung back, throat exposed she stared up at the devil's trap ceiling fan. "Oh fuck me I'm screwed."

Dean entered the room and seeing Alex caught him off guard, "You seem kinda strung out, or were you just trying that hard to get out of here?" Closing the door behind him he walked up to the tied up brunette, he might have been slow sometimes but he wasn't blind, she definitely was worse for wear than when they left her. There was that part of him that was uncomfortable with being here, with doing what he was planning on doing, then there was the part that knew he would do what he had to in order to get answers. He had to know who brought him back, and why.

Lowering her head she stared at him. "Don't provoke. It's fun when I do it but when you do it is just tedious." Alex shook her head and rolled her eyes. "What might I ask are you doing down here at such a late hour? And alone. I'd really like to get some semblance of rest but it seems that is not likely. So ask your questions and let's see if the mirror will answer."

Dean noted the curious way Alex spoke. "Alright," he said and stepped further to the side, "what are you then and what are you doing here?"

He sneered unconsciously at the leering grin Alex had on her face and wanted to sorely wipe the expression from her mouth. Dean doubted he would get anything out of her without some coaxing, Sammy was always better at diplomacy than he was, he had his fists to talk for him. Or in this case it was his knife, sharp enough to sink into bone, it was itching into his back yearning to be put to use. Not yet though, not yet, his human sensibilities not as forgotten as he had thought now that he was back and breathing were telling him to give Alex her chances at telling him what was going on. After her chances were up though, Dean would be free to do as he liked to find answers.

"I'm being as patient as I can, this isn't going to get any easier for you so why go through all the pointless effort? You're gonna tell me what I want to know, that's just the way it's gonna be."

Alex stared hard at him and inhaled. "I can't tell you that Dean. It will put me at risk and it might put you at risk. I don't really know what will happen to be frank but I know that telling you is dangerous. And how many times to have to repeat what I am fucking doing here? My car broke down, I am telling the truth. That thing that burned my hand and did-stop Alex. He can't know. He's a hunter." Alex turned her head. "So am I. And I know that, I'm not dumb."

Dean furrowed his brow, "Alex, you have to fight this and help us out here. What do you mean the thing that burned your hand, during the séance? Von barely talked after she was so out of it."

Two sets of footsteps sounded upstairs after the back porch door was heard opening and closing, Dean paused and strained his hearing, one of them was definitely Sam, he'd recognize that gait anywhere especially because of the slight limp in it. The lighter steps however had him at a loss until he decided it was Von, so Sam had been out with Von, that was reassuring at least. Several minutes after Dean heard the water running through the pipes but he shook his head, there wasn't any way_ that_ was happening, not the way Von acted like Sam was plague ridden. Grabbing Alex's hand he pulled down the bandage to see the mark like wings and some strange symbol between them that he had never seen but it had no resemblance to the hand on his shoulder. Releasing her arm Dean stood above her as a menacing presence.

"Last warning, you better spit out what I'm not supposed to know or things are gonna get messy real quick."

She gasped as the anger filled her, her head snapped up to look at him and her eyes were swirling blue and black. "Threatening will get you nowhere Dean. You have no idea what you are messing with. Your tiny mind can't even begin to conceive that there are others things out there than demons and the occasional monster under the bed. What you want to know, might just change that island you have yourself marooned on mister went to Hell. Boo hoo."

Her eyes fluttered and they returned to normal. "I'm sorry...that wasn't right."

In other company Dean might have kept his calm or at least restrained his hands from lashing out and striking Alex. One hard strike to the jaw as if she had never apologized was enough to cause a trickle of blood to come from Alex's mouth from biting her inner cheek. He didn't need to be teased about Hell, not from the thing that was inside Alex, not from anyone and even if they had been there themselves they still didn't know, they didn't have a clue.

_I've carved you into a new animal..._

Dean pulled out Ruby's demon killing knife, he had taken it back from Sam's bag when they returned to Bobby's. "I have a feeling salt and holy water won't work on you but I'm hoping this'll do the trick." Really Dean didn't want to start carving into Alex, he didn't hold any grudges against her and he didn't hate her, but the rage in him at the thing in her, what he figured was a demon despite its cryptic warning that it might not be such a thing made him want to do horrible things to Alex and her body.

The knife caught her eye. She couldn't stop staring at it, the intricate glimmer as it hit a brief light and revealing some etchings into the blade itself. Alex noticed the carved bone-like handle, the jagged edge to the sharp point. It was a good knife and from what she could tell, did a lot of damage. She was so transfixed on it that she didn't even panic when Dean came towards her and placed it onto her skin, putting pressure with the tip and it pierced through. Alex let out a scream of pain, a droplet of blood puckered from the puncture and red sparks illuminated under her skin of her left arm before black tendrils appeared to swallow it up. The blade in Dean's hand jerked away making him stumble at the force. Alex's breath was audible and the fan gave a screech before stopping.

"What the fuck is that thing?" she growled, glaring right at him. "I take back what I said. She doesn't deserve it. If you so much as do that again or anything with that another time I will do more than break that fan." Alex inhaled sharply and began to shake as if she were cold. "You can try but remember that little tiny thing, I'm still in control. That was a minor blip." Flexing her fingers of her left hand to try and distract herself from the pain that one prick did, before she could say anything more or do anything else that creaks on the basement stairs came to their ears and they both looked at the room door.

888

The hot water was welcome, it warmed her frigid limbs and brought feeling back to her numb toes and fingers. Pure rivulets collected dirt and blood and ended at the basin in dark cloudy streaks of muck. Soapy hands smelling of incense roamed over her body, lathering her flat stomach and upwards to the sloping curve of her breasts then across to her arms. The spray washed the suds away and she started again, lifting one leg to wash it down and then the other, then turning to reach around to her back. As she finished rinsing her hair Von felt an alarming presence which urged her to hurry her routine and to dress. Yanking on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt she tucked her blade into the belt of her jeans and hurried out of the bathroom with towel dried hair, her steps rushed more once she heard the scream and mechanical sounds coming from the basement.

Skipping three steps when she jumped down Von turned and was met with the closed door of the panic room, but she knew immediately that Alex was not the only one inside. Not bothering to use the peep hole to gaze inside Von turned the crank and pulled the door back to see Dean, knife in hand and Alex bloody. "What the hell are you doing?!" Then she paused to hear if any other sounds awoke in the house as her senses became sharp to the noise of any further trouble. But what hit her like a brick was the force of the energy in the room, it was just a taste but it was intense and it was coming from Alex, whatever Dean had done it had caused quite the reaction and Von suspected had caused the large vent fan to cease working.

Without thinking Von grabbed Dean's wrist to inspect the knife and like a flood the hunter's bloodthirsty essence struck her and all she saw was Dean's blood splattered form and the green fire stoked glass of his orbs and how it sought to consume her. Yet it did not frighten her as much as it should have, perhaps because she had already seen this visage before albeit not as intense and striking. Releasing his hand the flame of his eyes dimmed but the image remained all the same, Von could almost smell the blood staining his skin and mingling with his freckles. Dean stepped away from Von but not enough to show that he was startled by the jolt that went up his arm when she touched him.

"Getting answers," he answered bluntly. He looked down at the knife when Von did again. "The knife can kill demons, I barely cut her with it and she sparked up like a firefly. That's proof enough to me that something demonic is in her."

"Unless you plan on stabbing her clean in the heart with it, don't use it as an interrogation device again," Von warned, holding her hands away from her body and palms directed towards Alex, "the consequences would be devastating."

Frustration rose in Dean but he understood and returned the knife to its home in his belt. "If you've got any bright ideas I'm open to them."

"I've been thinking on it. Sending you into a trance would be a less physically invasive way of getting the answers we want since you won't cooperate." Von met Alex's eyes and lowered her arms. There was a real power struggle going on inside of the brunette, and the way they were yo-yoing one side couldn't gain the better purchase on the body's consciousness.

A trance? What would that do? Would she tell them everything? Even the things she didn't know? That freaked her out. But she knew she didn't have a say in it. She had information. They wanted it. Simple as that, though she had to be grateful to Von that she wasn't getting pricked or anything more from Dean's knife. Swallowing she went through it all in her head. What could possibly go wrong? She knew Dean was going to ask the personal questions and sure Von might as well but there was that other part about what pulled Dean from Hell. That was a need to know and she did want to know so then they could get it and stop it from messing with them any further. Was it really worth the risk of her telling them what she was? Was it worth it not to?

Alex wasn't paying attention as Von was beginning to start in on the process and before she knew it her eyes were staring blankly into Von's green. Face void of emotion she waited for the first question while deep inside her real self was practically asleep. Once Von spoke, her hand out to Dean to motion him to be quiet, Alex inhaled, voice monotone. "The burn on my hand that broke the connection of the séance was left by an angel. The name I do not know but it was angel that knew what I was and that I would react and break it before it could go further. It broke pieces off of what was placed on what is within. The barrier is falling and not as strong as it once was. Nothing can fix it." Stopping and blinking once she continued to stare at Von. Waiting once more.

A bomb just dropped on them. Of all things an angel. Dean wisely called bullshit and laughed with derision, Von silenced him with a threatening wave of her hand as she stared stone-faced at Alex. Angels? There had to be some mix up, clearly Alex, the thing inside Alex, was mistaken. "A fucking angel?" Dean scoffed and shook his head. There was no such thing, angels were made up of fairy tales and children's bedtime stories, they were right up there with unicorns and virgin strippers. No hunter he had ever known or heard about had ever come across one, something that big couldn't be swept under the rug so easily.

"If it was an angel, why did it want to stop the séance?" It was one of the many questions that were floating in Von's head, she was still trying to wrap around the fact that angels could exist if Alex was right and the thought sent a deep terror through Von that she could not explain. Dean's cynical view fought with Von's knowledge that whether angels existed or not Alex was telling the truth. The red head had to show patience both for the answers to the questions and Dean's disbelief which was an aggravating tension at the back of her neck. She should have told Dean to leave the room, but it was too late for that.

"I don't know, but whatever the reason you probably got too close to something you weren't supposed to. That is how they work. They only reveal things when the time is right or convenient for them. Angels and demons don't mix and if in the same room or area it could blow into a world war," Alex said, breathing the last part out as a small trickle of fear and annoyance played on her face before going back to being blank.

Von stared harder into Alex's blue orbs, talking about the angel was pulling strong emotions from the thing inside her. "What are you, and what is the barrier?"

The red head already had some suspicions, if the angel broke down a barrier in Alex's mind that was sealing away this other side for the sole purpose to end the séance then whatever Von was getting close to must have been a bigger bombshell then the one Alex dropped on them about this mysterious celestial being. Dean felt the tension, it pressed against his skin and made it feel dry and tight. He tried to rub the feeling out while he stood behind Von finding a better view of them both as he stepped off to the side. He imagined one of those cartoonish lightning bolts dancing between the two female sets of eyes, their stares were that intense, Alex's glazed and dull while Von's was sharp and keen, she could slice through rock with that look if she wanted to.

Alex opened her mouth and paused. Her breathing audible in the room while she stared straight into Von's eyes, lip quivering a little before closing and swallowing. Opening once more she spoke. "Half-demon...half-human. The barrier was placed by a Shaman at 20 years old after the voices started. After we found myself alive again. I did horrible things but she doesn't know what they all are. She only remembers parts, small parts. The barrier was for protection, as I grew stronger so it could hold me back. It was working and I would break through if she used me in desperate times of near death. For instance tossing a succubus off of us or helping to speed up healing. It is against her code. It was breaking slowly, it wasn't as strong over the years and the angel broke most of it. Nothing can fix it..." she stopped and her voice came back with a different tone to it. "Except...that one must win control. Only then can it be fixed and they can be one. Cannot be forced. I who brought her back, this is her punishment."

The brunette choked and blinked hard and fast, the trance broken, blood coming from her mouth and staining her shirt as she fought to breathe. Once the flow stopped she stared at them. She had no idea what had happened, she was aware of talking but whatever hit was like some kind of programed message. Whatever the message was it obviously was big from the looks on their faces and the fact that they now knew what she was.

"Please don't kill me."

888

**September 22, 2008  
2:00AM**

Von had a headache from working all the new developments through her mind or maybe it was the half bottle of whiskey she had consumed since she had moved into the study with Dean to discuss what they should do next. But it seemed the only thing they were succeeding in was becoming inebriated. Dean had to be convinced that the possibility of an angel existing could happen, even if no one had ever heard of confronting one until now, because there was no chance that Alex's other half was lying. So it either was an angel or it was calling itself one, the true nature of it was going to have to be investigated.

"So, it was the thing that pulled me out," Dean's brow furrowed when Von shook her head. "No? It wasn't then what the hell was?" Von shrugged and took another sip of the amber liquid, how many times was she going to have to say she didn't know until it stuck? She told him again that the aura, or whatever he wanted to call it, gave off a different vibe than the one Von took from the handprint on Dean's arm; the two signatures were completely different. "I still think we should summon it, it knows something we don't." Dean finished the contents of his tumbler and filled another three fingers worth into the glass.

"Haven't you ever read the Bible? Angels aren't the kinds of things I want to mess with, not if they can raze a whole city to the ground in the span of a blink. But let's summon one here while everyone is asleep just so we can interrogate it while we're sloshed out of our minds, that's a brilliant scheme...I know that's what you were thinking Dean. You've been wanting to slice into something ever since you got back." Von slammed down her glass and stared hard at Dean. "So why don't you take that knife out and kill me already you mousy little fuck."

"What did you say?" Dean sat stunned, sobering quickly and stuck to his seat as Von climbed on top of the table and crawled towards him, she got so close he could smell the whiskey on her breath.

"I said, why don't you fuck me already," her husky voice breathed hot against Dean's neck and she ran her hands up his chest one resting on the scar on his shoulder and the other going to his neck. "I wanna feel it twisting inside me again and again.: Dean cringed when the scar began to tingle painfully and heat up before both of her hands wrapped around Dean's neck and they both violently fell back onto the floor with the chair underneath them. "Do it Dean, kill me!"

888

**6:00AM**

Dean woke with a start, gasping on the cool air of the room, he could almost still feel the iron grip of Von's slender fingers squeezing tight around his neck eager to choke the life from him. A means to encourage him to stab her to death. Getting his bearings he was glad it was all a dream and fell back into the couch to scrub his hands over his face. "What the fuck?" came the muffled grumble. Sitting up Dean blinked at the room around him, Von wasn't anywhere in it but the evidence was there that they had definitely been drinking the near empty bottle and glasses testified to that. Dean swallowed when he noticed the knocked over chair and staggered to his feet to search the adjoining kitchen for Von but she wasn't there either.

Shuffling to the hall he took to the stairs and didn't stop till he was in front of the room Von had taken as hers. Carefully he turned the doorknob and tensed when the door creaked minutely at half an inch open, pausing to listen and hearing no movement Dean continued to open the door another creak causing him to pause and repeat his movements. Cursing inwardly when the door creaked again.

_This has got to be the noisiest door in the goddamn house_.

He finally had enough room to poke his head through and get a clear look of the room. Von was inside and intact, a sheet haphazardly draped over her frame, the wild mess of her auburn waves flowed in all directions and one creamy freckled leg had gotten free of the bed sheet exposed just up to wear her thigh curved into her backside. The room smelled faintly of rain and whatever incense Von had been burning, Dean thought it was sandalwood, and by the looks of things the room might have experienced another one of the red head's nightmares. Dean jumped when Bobby came up behind him and demanded to know what he was doing. Turning around he responded in a hushed tone. "Just checking to make sure everyone's good."

Bobby raised his brow and leaned into the room to look at what Dean had been looking at. "Uh huh," he replied skeptically and left Dean to feel however embarrassed a man like Dean could feel over being caught staring at a half-naked girl passed out in a bed.

"Well I was," he muttered and closed the door gently to leave Von to whatever dreams troubled her.

888

"Sam...Sam..."

He inhaled sharply and sat up straight from hearing the name whispered into his ear so softly and a slight detection of a smile. The hunter breathed fast and hard and looked around finding that he was alone and that the bed was soaked with his sweat he swallowed. Hand going through his hair he groaned. Glancing over at the other bed in the room he noticed that Dean wasn't occupying it. He had been sleeping so deeply that he hadn't heard a single thing. The troubling part about the voice that woke him was that it sounded familiar yet remarkably different. Pinpointing it was near impossible and he decided he needed a shower. Standing and opening the bedroom door he headed down the hall and into the bathroom, shutting the door he began to strip and stepped under the flowing water.

Closing his eyes, Sam began to go through his dream. The field and chasing a girl but he never got a good view of her as she was always placing herself around trees and all he could see was a flash of her ankle, hand or fabric of her flowing green dress. He could still hear her laughter and though he hadn't seen her he knew the color of her eyes. A mixture of Mercury and silver, somehow mirroring the starry sky above as she called to him with them. Feeling hands slide around his waist, up his chest slowly taking in every muscle before going lower and lower. He jerked, eyes opening and turning his head. Again. No one. Was he going crazy? Was this what not receiving from Ruby had done to him? Brief hallucinations and about a woman he had never met but in a way he had? Continuing to wash up he tried to busy his mind with other things, before he knew it his shower was done and he was stepping out.

Only problem was as he was stepping out that was when the door was opening and there stood a hung over looking Von. His hand on the towel on the rack, both frozen until he quickly regained his bearings and covered himself up just as Von went to back up and yet decided better of it while running to the toilet.

Giving back the half bottle of whiskey that she had drank the night before Von spat up the lingering taste and wiped her mouth. It wasn't like her to throw up perfectly good alcohol, not without another reason to instigate it. She sat in front of the toilet, legs bent outwards at her sides, the cool tile a relief against her sweaty skin, though it was moist with condensation from a hot shower. She just saw little Sammy Winchester in the buff, well, maybe he wasn't so little. Von laughed, possibly still quite drunk, until her head hurt from the noise and she rested her forehead against the cool porcelain bowl. Her arm throbbed and everything seemed to hurt. Sucking in much needed air Von breathed out slowly and closed her eyes.

_Why me, why?_

Sam exited without wasting time and hurried into the room he shared with Dean. Glad to find that empty he made sure to lock the door this time. "Maybe I am going crazy," he muttered.

888

Dean returned to the study with two strong cups of coffee, handing one to Bobby he sat in the chair opposite the desk and took a mouthful before setting the cup down. He had told the elder what he and the red head had been up to last night and what they managed to find out, he wanted the elder's take on the situation. While Bobby had never heard of anyone encountering an angel before he wasn't as quick to dismiss it as Dean was. There were plenty of things that went bump in the night somewhere that had never been heard of somewhere else, angels had to be weighed in as a possibility. It opened up a whole new can of worms and it was definitely a game changer.

"It's not the thing that pulled me out," Dean clarified.

"No, but it's the thing that was stoppin' Von from findin' out what thing_ did_ pull you out, and right now that's as important because that's all we got to go on." He patted a stack of books piled on the desk to his left. "These are everything I have on angels, better get reading." Dean hesitated, not sure why he was debating what he was, he had no obligations to Alex to keep secrets. Bobby saw the change in mood come over Dean and set his coffee mug down. "S'there somethin' else?" He watched the cloud gather over Dean's features but Bobby held his poker face as he waited for Dean to gather his thoughts.

"Yeah, when Alex was in the trance, we were talking to this other half of her, said she was half human and half demon, like she was born that way or I don't know. Is that even possible, I mean, I know demons were human souls once, so I guess it is. How could none of us know that about her?"

Bobby was at a loss, angels were one thing, but human-demon hybrids were another. Alex had never shown any signs of possession or demonic tendencies, sure she was hot headed and loved to argue, she would argue the sky was orange even when she knew she was wrong. "She was a normal kid," Bobby shrugged, "she might have been the brattiest of the four of you but there was never anythin' out of the ordinary with her."

"Not like Von," Dean used as an example, he never meant it to sound as harsh as it did but it was true. When they were younger, there was still that inexplicable feeling that something about Von, or Von herself just didn't belong. Dean knew how it sounded and he had always been kind to Von because he knew what it was like to be on the fringes of society, to not belong.

Bobby gave a half nod, he knew what the idjit was trying to say even if he failed at saying it. All four of them were family to him and it would grieve him badly to see any of them terribly hurt, as hypocritical as it might have been keeping Alex locked up was the best thing he could think to do with her at the moment. In the state she was Bobby couldn't take the risk of letting her have the run of the house, and killing her seemed miles too far in the wrong direction.

888

Alex could hear them talking upstairs, her body felt battered and her mind stripped. Yet somehow, she had managed to push that part back into the hole it popped from that angel shit. She didn't know how long that would last but at least it couldn't speak through her now. It took everything in her to do that to the point that blood trickled at the corner of her right eye, staining the orb red. Slowly turning her head, Alex stared at her bound wrists. _They will never know the whole story. They won't understand. Do you think that they will truly keep us alive after this?_

"Are you talking about Dean?"

_Of course I am talking about Dean. I-_

The voice cut off making her brows furrow in confusion. Blinking she jerked at fingers brushing her hair from her shoulder. Her attention went to what had done it to find the man from the motel room at Ekalaka. "BOBBY! DEAN!" she screamed.

Sam had gotten dressed and moved downstairs and was now looking through the peephole of the panic room where Alex was sound asleep in her chair, dark circles under her eyes and looking exhausted. Satisfied that she was okay he latched it and headed back to the study where Dean and Bobby were talking. Entering he asked what the obvious tension was in the room only to be filled in to the events of last night. He sat down with a shocked expression and stared at the ground. Should he tell them about Von? That she wasn't herself last night? What he had witnessed? Thinking better of it he didn't want to add to the pile that was growing little by little. Angels? Half-demons? This was a joke right? Since when did something from belief and something that had never been heard of come to be real?

"Yep I am definitely going crazy," he said, noticing the weird look Dean gave him only for him to shake his head and wave it off. No need to answer his brother. Rubbing his hands together he grabbed a couple books and brought them to him. "I guess we should get started."

Groaning Dean pushed back the book and stared up at the ceiling, according to the passage he kept reading over and over again, an angel was likely the only thing that could pull his ass from the Hot Box. Yet Von insisted that wasn't the case here. Speaking of Von, Dean's distraction stemmed from her since she had moved to the kitchen to make some tea wearing torn jeans and a long sleeved purple shirt with the sleeves scrunched halfway up her forearm to show off the leather and knotted bracelets that she wore. He kept looking up from the book to watch her and then he noticed Sam was doing it too, Sam, the one that was supposed to be so suspicious of Von when he was keeping secrets too.

Dean kept his mouth shut, going back to the troublesome page in front of him, if he didn't know his brother as well as he did he might have missed the crinkle in Sam's large forehead that gave away that he was concerned about the red head in the kitchen. When Von turned to look into the study Dean turned away, staring at the page with feigned concentration while Von finished preparing her tea and her bare feet softly padded to the back door and she exited the house. "You think she could help us read a couple of these," Dean complained.

"She probably could, since it's taken you a whole hour to get through two pages," Bobby shot back, "she was probably tired of you staring at her when you thought she wasn't paying attention." He looked between both the brothers. Shaking his head he continued to read further until he tapped the page with his pen. "I think I got something here."

"What?" Dean's attention piqued anything to get him away from that dreaded paragraph. "Looks like some kinda ritual, a summoning, not guaranteed to be legitim-"

Dean cut Bobby off mid-sentence, "Let's do it." The hunter was eager to get off his ass and do something about their situation; reading was only going to get them so far. Any lead, anything at all was good enough for him right now.

"It's an all-sorts of a summoning, should have most of what we need though. We're gonna have to pick up some other things." Bobby wanted to teach Dean a lesson and send Sam and have Dean continue to read because he interrupted him but decided he needed to get him out of the house, he wasn't doing much anyway in favor of the research. "Take Von with you, she'll help." Bobby started to write up a list, knowing Dean would forget some of the things if left for him to remember solely from hearing it.

Should he go with? Sam dwindled his fingers before he stood. "I'll go with. Best to have two people to make sure Dean doesn't forget," he said, taking the list before Dean could even grab it.

Looking it over he studied it and placed it in his pocket. As for going to find Von. He could feel the old days coming back to him as he knew immediately where she was without even having to go on a search party. Not paying attention to anyone in the room, he was like a hound dog as his steps carried him across the room and outside. When he managed to get through everything and came upon her he found himself in the area he had tackled her last night. Swallowing he made sure to make a small sound with his shoe to tell her someone was there and stepped up beside her. Removing the list from his pocket he slowly handled it to her.

_My hand is shaking and nearly sweaty. Though shaking differently compared to before..._

"Bobby found a summoning ritual and is sending us into town to get the items for it." He paused and stepped in front of her and stared into her green eyes while she drank her tea. "Are you okay? Last night I mean...I just wanted to see if you were okay after it. You were really shaken up. And about this morning...I'm sorry I should have remembered to lock the door." A deep red came to his cheeks and he absently ran his hand through his hair and down his face as if to wipe it away. "And I'm sorry if I have been an ass lately. I have a lot to apologize to you for."

Von was lost in thought until she heard Sam approaching, she supposed she should be grateful he had the decency to make a noise so it didn't seem as if he was really sneaking up on her. The moment gave her deja vu, maybe something last night...Taking the list from him she scanned over it, knowing she had a few of these items stowed in her trunk that made the list shorter. Her study of the list was languorous as Sam asked his questions and gave his excuses and apologies. He was fidgety and anxious like a young boy not used to talking to girls, there was a perfectly good reason for the awkwardness that was wafting off of Sam though, she had after all seen him naked.

She was a little taken aback by how apologetic he had become. First it was secretive stares and tense energy as if Sam was mentally squaring off with an opponent, now it was sincerity and the meager attempt to extend the olive branch. Von was not convinced, she could not doubt Sam's current means to do well, it called back to her the memories of their youth, the disquiet lay in the truths her instincts were telling her. Von thought she wouldn't have been as shaken up if Sam had not been there pinning her to the earth, the skin on skin contact was too much for Von to take like she had been put through a terrible shock and every muscle spasmed as if under a great strain of weight. "I'm fine." Von neatly folded the piece of paper and handed it back to Sam, only meeting his eyes briefly. "There's no need to apologize about this morning, I think you're more embarrassed about it than me."

_It's not like I've never seen a dick before_.

Von smiled gently at the double meaning and stooped to pick up her knife which she must have brought with her last night. Tucking it into the sheath in her belt she adjusted her wool shawl and began to head towards the house. Dean was already waiting and ready to go, stepping out to warm up the car as Von and Sam entered the house. Von ascended the steps to grab her jacket and her car keys, she would be needing to get a bag from the trunk of her Nova. Lacing up her boots on the steps she paused and looked up from what she was doing. "I don't understand why the three of us are going." Then she realized why and remained silent.

Taking the care to check up on Alex in the panic room Von found that she was asleep but undergoing some trauma while she dreamed, so to help Von mixed some dry herbs and burned them to ease the nightmare that was plaguing her. She could have easily woken the brunette but whatever sleep could be managed would be needed because they weren't done with her yet. It was a small mercy, but the situation was complicated. "How much did we drink last night?" Dean met Von at the back of her car while she popped the trunk and gathered a small bag of supplies, those mostly from the list.

"Too much, I don't even remember how I got upstairs or into bed," Von confessed with a shrug and closing the trunk with a metallic clank and chink as the lock cranked into place. She was about to mention Sam tagging along but her words ended with a silent closing of her lips when the shaggy haired man in question entered well within earshot.

"This one could drink you under the table, not that that's hard to do," Dean tilted his head towards Von and laughed at Sam, "Sammy's a lightweight when it comes to the sauce."

Sam's brow furrowed when she had spoken to him back there. He could tell what she was really saying underneath it all and he was confused. Why was he apologizing? He was suspicious of her and yet...his head hurt just trying to piece it all together.

_Pick what you feel and how you act, don't jump from side to side._

Coming towards the car and hearing his brother he gave him an exasperated look. "Haven't seen me drink since you came back obviously," Sam replied. "I've tuned up but you are probably right. I haven't tuned up as much as some of us," he said, his eyes going to Von and he felt that part of him that had to jab back.

_Have more problems to drown out than I do. I'm not as damaged as I thought._

Sam swallowed and climbed into the front seat of the impala, taking note that Von got in the backseat and could feel her eyes on him.

_I really need to pick one thing and stick with it. Because now I feel slightly guilty._

If Von was from Krypton she would have burned a hole in the back of Sam's head from the harshness of her glare. It wasn't that she lacked thick skin, quite the opposite, only that Sam was in no position to think he was superior to her. She was too irritated to be swayed to sympathy by Sam's teetering emotions, his audacity had her inwardly rolling her eyes, and he thought that he _wasn't_ as messed up as she was. "There's not gonna be a problem on this milk run, is there?" Dean told them more than asked as he flicked his hazel-green orbs to Sam and rearview checked Von.

Von met Dean's eyes and watched him while he returned his attention to the road. "That depends on Sam," she replied.

Her intense green eyes locked back on Sam when she literally felt the heat of his temper coming off of him from the front passenger seat until he got it under control. The car ride was going to get ugly if emotions continued to flare, and really Von didn't want it to go that far not with all that was going on with Alex and angels. Like she had said, it was all going to depend on Sam and that temper she could feel swelling inside of him like magma in a volcano. Maybe now, or maybe later, it was inevitable that it would eventually blow its volatile load. It was a matter of waiting until enough pressure was applied.

"And that depends on Von," Sam answered.

The ride was a silent one, none of them talked after that and coming into town the only words they did speak were to the cashiers as they found their items and paid for them. It really wasn't like him to make that kind of comment, let alone make it to a girl. Surprising himself and wanting to apologize but he had seen where apologizing to Von had gotten him and figured if she wasn't going to take it in sincerity then he needed to stop despite his nature. It bugged him. How could she judge him like he was judging her? It wasn't right but they were both doing it. He judged her back there that much he knew but he also knew it wasn't just him. Sam had to stick up for himself but could he keep going in circles like this with her? Butting heads like bulls.

Finally coming back to the car his shoulders weren't as set as they were when they arrived. In fact they were more slumped as that consciousness that had departed being with Ruby on occasions was rearing up. He should really apologize. It was the right thing to do. Sam sighed and glanced at Von as she was exiting the store focusing on the items in the bag. He had to stop this tug-o-war but at the same time it was hard. It shouldn't be just him making the effort. Though it confused that other part where Dean had been gone for 4 months why he was even making the effort with how suspicious he was of her.

_I can't keep thinking like this._

Looking away he slid back into the front passenger seat as they headed back to set up their big plan.


End file.
